Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 48.djvu/468

428, ornithological, and zoölogical descriptions. In applied science, in the arts, and in chemistry the inconvenience has, if possible, been even greater, and the rapid advance in the art of dyeing alone makes some system of color nomenclature absolutely necessary. Mr. J. H. Pilsbury, who has been working for some years to perfect a practical system, contributed an article on the subject to a recent copy of Nature. He says: "In order that any fixed scheme of color nomenclature may be of some practical value, it must of course be readily understood by people of ordinary intelligence, and must be complete enough to meet the ordinary wants of everyday life. There must be something that is so completely fixed as to be perfectly trustworthy for present and future needs. In the solar spectrum we have an invariable source from which to derive our spectrum standards, and upon these the whole scheme is to be based. Since the six spectrum standard (red, 6,587; orange, 6,085; yellow, 5,793; green, 5,164; blue, 4,695; violet, 4,210—the numbers indicate the wave-lengths in ten millionths of a millimetre) do not give a very extensive répertoire for common use, to say nothing of the needs of the more artistic, it was proposed to introduce between each two spectrum standards two intermediate hues to be formed by the union of two spectrum standards in definite proportions. Thus between orange and red would be introduced an orange-red and a red-orange. . . . It is also very desirable that the standards be produced in some material form in order that it be of any practical value. The task of reproducing the brilliant hues of the solar spectrum in pigmentary material or in glass is much more difficult than one not acquainted with the matter would suspect. In order to accomplish this, it has been found necessary to use the somewhat fugitive aniline colors." The colors thus produced, with the addition of black and white, give a fairly satisfactory system. In a later number of the same journal Herbert Spencer has a letter in which he suggests a scheme for colornaming, composed of terms patterned after those used in the compass for denoting direction; giving a form: Red, red by blue, red red blue, red blue by red, red blue, red blue by blue, blue red blue, blue by red, blue. He says: "Of course, these names would be names of pure colors only, the primaries and their mixtures with one another; but the method might be expanded by the use of numbers to each, 1, 2, 3, signifying proportions of added neutral tint subduing the color, so as to produce gradations of impurity."

Kindergartening in a New Role.—There is to be opened in Boston this fall a kindergarten settlement, to be known as the Elizabeth Peabody House. It is designed as a memorial to Elizabeth Peabody, who did so much, in the early days of kindergartening, to help the cause. The plan is to take a house in some poor and crowded quarter, and officer it with a group of eight or ten kindergarteners, normal students, and teachers. They will conduct a kindergarten, and through acquaintance with the children enter into friendly and helpful relations with the people of the neighborhood. Interesting plans are under consideration for a cooking school, a training class for nursery maids, and for mothers' clubs and classes, where helpful hints may be given as to the care of children and of the home.

Fish-bait Farms.—Fine openings for new industries are discovered by Dr. W. A. Herdman, President of the Zoölogical Section of the British Association, in the cultivation of supplies for fishermen. The Scotch long-line fishermen alone, he says, use nearly a hundred millions of mussels every time all the lines are set, and many tons of them have to be imported every year. If squid could be obtained reasonably and in sufficient quantity, it would probably prove more valuable even than mussels. A fishing firm in Aberdeen last winter paid more than two hundred pounds for squid bait for a single boat's lines from October to December, and there are fifty such boats north of the Tyne. "Here is a nice little industry for any one who can capture or cultivate the common squid in quantity." Innumerable young mussels perish around the coasts every year for want of suitable objects to attach to. The erection of proper stakes or plain bouchots would serve a useful purpose, at any rate in the collection of seed. Dr. Herdman further pointed out the opportunity that exists for opulent