CHESTNUT HILL, MASS., 1905.

PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.

The new illustrations in this edition are facsimiles of children's
studies with measured color, made under ordinary school-room conditions.
Notes and appendices are introduced to meet the questions most
frequently asked, stress being laid on the unbalanced nature of colors
usually given to beginners, and the mischief done by teaching that red,
yellow, and blue are primary hues.

The need of a scientific basis for color values is also emphasized,
believing this to be essential in the discipline of the color sense.

A. H. M.

CHESTNUT HILL, MASS., 1907.

INTRODUCTION.

The lack of definiteness which is at present so general in color
nomenclature, is due in large measure to the failure to appreciate the
fundamental characteristics on which color differences depend. For the
physicist, the expression of the wave length of any particular light is
in most cases sufficient, but in the great majority of instances where
colors are referred to, something more than this and something easier of
realization is essential.

The attempt to express color relations by using merely two dimensions,
or two definite characteristics, can never lead to a successful system.
For this reason alone the system proposed by Mr. Munsell, with its three
dimensions of hue, value, and chroma, is a decided step in advance over
any previous proposition. By means of these three dimensions it is
possible to completely express any particular color, and to
differentiate it from colors ordinarily classed as of the same
general character.

The expression of the essential characteristics of a color is, however,
not all that is necessary. There must be some accurate and not too
complicated system for duplicating these characteristics, one which
shall not alter with time or place, and which shall be susceptible of
easy and accurate redetermination. From the teaching standpoint also a
logical and sequential development is absolutely essential. This Mr.
Munsell seems to have most successfully accomplished.

In the determination of his relationships he has made use of distinctly
scientific methods, and there seems no reason why his suggestions should
not lead to an exact and definite system of color essentials. The
Munsell photometer, which is briefly referred to, is an instrument of
wide range, high precision, and great sensitiveness, and permits the
valuations which are