The existence and the relatively definite character of colour are one and the same thing. Light displays itself and the face of nature, as it were, with a general indifference, informing us as to surrounding objects perhaps devoid of interest or importance; but colour is at all times specific, characteristic, significant.
696.
Considered in a general point of view, colour is determined towards one of two sides. It thus presents a contrast which we call a polarity, and which we may fitly designate by the expressions plus and minus.
| Plus . | Minus . |
|---|---|
| Yellow. | Blue. |
| Action. | Negation. [1] |
| Light. | Shadow. |
| Brightness. | Darkness. |
| Force. | Weakness. |
| Warmth. | Coldness. |
| Proximity. | Distance. |
| Repulsion | Attraction. |
| Affinity with acids. | Affinity with alkalis. |
COMBINATION OF THE TWO PRINCIPLES.
697.
If these specific, contrasted principles are combined, the respective qualities do not therefore destroy each other: for if in this intermixture the ingredients are so perfectly balanced that neither is to be distinctly recognised, the union again acquires a specific character; it appears as a quality by itself in which we no longer think of combination. This union we call green.