ates, the teacher goes on to
state that opposite hues are complementary.

Red is thus made the complement of Green,
Yellow " " Purple, and
Blue " " Orange.

Unfortunately, each of these statements is wrong, and, if tested by the
mixture of colored lights or with Maxwell's rotating discs, their
falsity is evident.

There can be no doubt that green is not the complement of red, nor
purple of yellow, nor orange of blue, for neither one of these pairs
unites as it should in a balanced neutrality, and a total test of the
circle gives great excess of orange, showing that red and yellow usurp
too great a portion of the circumference. Starting from a false basis,
the Brewster theory can only lead to unbalanced and inharmonious effects
of color.

The fundamental color sensations are RED, GREEN, and VIOLET-BLUE.

RED has for its true complement BLUE-GREEN,
GREEN " " RED-PURPLE, and
VIOLET-BLUE " " YELLOW,

all of the hues in the right-hand column being compound sensations. The
sensation of green is not due to a mixture of yellow and blue, as the
absorptive action of pigments might lead one to think: GREEN IS
FUNDAMENTAL, and not made by mixing any hues of the spectrum, while
YELLOW IS NOT FUNDAMENTAL, but caused by the mingled sensations of red
and green. This is easily proved by a controlled spectrum, for all
yellow-reds, yellows, and green-yellows can be matched by certain
proportions of red and green light, all blue-greens, blues, and
purple-blues can be obtained by the union of green and violet light,
while purple-blue, purple, and red-purple result from the union of
violet and red light. But there is no point where a mixture gives red,
green, or violet-blue. They are the true primaries, whose mixtures
produce all other hues.

Studio and school-room practice still cling to the discredited theory,
claiming that, if it fails to describe our color sensations, yet it may
be called practically true of pigments, because a red, yellow, and blue
pigment suffice to imitate most natural colors. This discrepancy between
pigment mixture and retinal mixture becomes clear as soon as one learns
the physical make-up and behavior of paints.

[Illustration:
{ Vermilion
Spectra {
{ Em. Green
P. B. G. Y. R.]

Spectral analysis shows that no pigment is a pure example of the
dominant hue which it sends