h the fingers. Indeed
there is nothing in tangible qualities that suggests color, except
differences in texture. We may feel that a piece of broad-cloth has a
harsh texture, and call it black, or a soft texture, and call it drab or
brown. In this we may guess right, for it is only a guess after all. Wool
buyers and dealers in cloth judge frequently of their quality by touch;
and it is true that we who are without sight come to be very expert in
judging of the quality of cloths, furs, &c. But, to one who has never seen
light, there is no suggestion of color through finger perception.

Between sound and color there is a much closer analogy traceable, as both
are the result of vibration. The same language is used to express the
qualities of each.

We talk of harmony in sounds and harmony in colors, of lights and shades,
of chromatics, blending, softness, sweetness, harshness, high, low,
bright, dull, &c.

May not a grand anthem or chorus be to the mind of one who has never seen
the light, what a fine picture is to one who has never heard sounds. I
should not be surprised to hear that some blind Yankee or Frenchman has
invented a telephone through which we can hear in the rippling brooks and
bubbling fountains the color of their waters, in the song of birds the
gorgeous tints of their plumage, and in the distant roar of Niagara, the
mighty grandeur of its scenery. To an imaginative mind a well tuned, well
voiced organ may be made to represent all the colors of the rainbow, from
the faintest violet of the piccolo to the darkest crimson of the sub-bass.
Some blind person on being asked what he supposed red to be like, answered
"Like the sound of a trumpet." He might have said "Like a flame of fire."
I once asked a blind boy, who had never seen light, if he could imagine a
house on fire and how he supposed it would look. He answered, "If it was a
big fire it would look like a thousand trumpets all blowing in a different
key." I then asked him what a picture is like. "Like anything in _shape_
you may wish to paint," he said, "but in color (if it is a fine picture)
like one of Mozart's grand symphonies." I have many times asked my blind
lady friends how they knew in what way to arrange their colors so as to
make their fancy work look tasty and attractive. How they knew what colors
blended and what were discordant, and I have often received this answer:
"By associating the names of the seven primary colors with the seven
sounds