Abstract
PROF. CLERK MAXWELL in his valuable paper on Colour in NATURE (vol. iv. p. 13) commits himself to the opinion that there must be three distinct sets of retinal nerves, one for each of the three primary sensations of colour. It is obvious that demonstrative proof or disproof of this is unattainable: we can only reason analogically. The analogy of the ear is in favour of such an opinion, so far as it goes; for there appears to be proof, or probability almost amounting to proof, that sounds of different pitch are conveyed to the brain by different nerves. But the ear resembles the other organs of sense less than they resemble each other; and there is surely no reason for thinking that there are distinct nerves of smell for every distinct kind of smell, or distinct nerves of taste for every distinct kind of taste. Nor I believe is there the slightest proof of nerves for the sensation of heat distinct from those of touch.
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MURPHY, J. The Sensation of Colour. Nature 4, 27 (1871). https://doi.org/10.1038/004027e0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/004027e0
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