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Composition of Light

The beam of light passing through the prism is decomposed, and the spaces occupied by the colours are in the following proportions:--red, 6; orange, 4; yellow, 7; green, 8; blue, 8; indigo, 6; violet, 11. Now, if you paste a sheet of white paper on a circular piece of board about six inches in diameter, and divide it with a pencil into fifty parts, and paint colours in them in the proportions given above, painting them dark in the centre parts, and gradually fainter at the edges, till they blend with the one adjoining. If the board be then fixed to an axle, and made to revolve quickly, the colours will no longer appear separate and distinct, but becoming gradually less visible they will ultimately appear white, giving this appearance to the whole surface of the paper.