Testing for colour-blindness in the mercantile marine / by Jabez Hogg.

  • Jabez Hogg
Date:
1885
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Testing for colour-blindness in the mercantile marine / by Jabez Hogg. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    {Re^mUd fro^^^e loMKt^KL of Ssience, July, 1885.] TESTING FOR COLOUR-BLINDNESS IN THE MERCANTILE MARINE. By JABEZ Hogg, M.R.C.S., F.R.M.S., &c., Consulting Surgeon to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital. N a former paper, Homer Colour-blind, I very slightly touched upon the wider question,—one which pos- sesses interest for most people,—colour-blindness, as affecting mankind in general and the mercantile marine in particular. Although the investigation of this remarkable phenomenon brought to light a curious facft, that on an average one male out of every twenty-five is quite unable to discriminate the principal colours of the spectrum, it ex- cited no great deal of attention until it became apparent that, both on our iron-roadways and on the ocean, deplorable accidents'^ were likely to—and often did—occur, from the colour-blindness of drivers and guards of railway trains, and of masters and pilots in charge of ships. It was at length fairly demonstrated that a certain percentage of persons employed on the railways, and in the Mercantile Marine Service, were, without being aware of it, unable to discriminate between the red and green signal colours in common use. Those who now offer themselves for employ- ment on railways are, and have been for some years, sub- jeifled'to a compulsory examination in colours, so that there no longer need be fear on this account. But as to the Mer- cantile Marine, the evidence adduced before the Royal