Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.9948
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Figure for use in optical experiments
Date
1785
Creator
Robert Waring Darwin (1766 - 1848, British) , Physician
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (painting): 231mm
width (painting): 153mm
width (painting): 153mm
Subject
Description
Plate 9 figure 5 from the paper “New experiments on the ocular spectra of light and colours”, by Robert Waring Darwin, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, vol.76 (1786), pp.313-348.
The name “BANKS” [after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), President of the Royal Society] written in blue on an oval yellow ground, intended for use in exploring colour perception. In the written experiment the author stated: “I was surprised, and agreeably amused, with the following experiment. I covered a paper about four inches square with yellow, and with a pen filled with blue colour wrote upon the middle of it the word BANKS in capitals, as in fig.5 and, sitting with my back to the sun, fixed my eyes for a minute exactly on the centre of the letter N in the middle of the word; after closing my eyes and shading them somewhat with my hand, the word was distinctly seen in the spectrum in yellow letters on a blue field; and then on opening my eyes on a yellowish wall at twenty feet distance, the magnified name of BANKS appeared written on the wall in golden characters”
Inscribed in ink “Fig.5”. Not signed.
The name “BANKS” [after Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820), President of the Royal Society] written in blue on an oval yellow ground, intended for use in exploring colour perception. In the written experiment the author stated: “I was surprised, and agreeably amused, with the following experiment. I covered a paper about four inches square with yellow, and with a pen filled with blue colour wrote upon the middle of it the word BANKS in capitals, as in fig.5 and, sitting with my back to the sun, fixed my eyes for a minute exactly on the centre of the letter N in the middle of the word; after closing my eyes and shading them somewhat with my hand, the word was distinctly seen in the spectrum in yellow letters on a blue field; and then on opening my eyes on a yellowish wall at twenty feet distance, the magnified name of BANKS appeared written on the wall in golden characters”
Inscribed in ink “Fig.5”. Not signed.
Associated place