Objects appear to us to have different colors--some of them are green,
some are red, some blue, some black, etc. Yet modern science has shown
us that no such thing as “color” exists in the universe at all! Nothing
is colored; color does not exist upon the object; color exists in the
human mind, and objects merely _appear_ to us to be colored. We put the
color _onto_ them, so to speak. Color is a quality of an object. Why,
then, do objects appear to us to have different colors!
The reason for this is that the surface of the object is so made
or constituted that certain light rays of the visible spectrum are
absorbed, while others are reflected. Those which are thus reflected
represent the “color” of the object. If _all_ the light rays were thus
absorbed, and none reflected, the object would become “invisible” to
us, but no object does this: if such a substance could be discovered,
we should have the “Invisible Man” of H. G. Wells. Color does not exist
on the object, therefore, but is merely a quality of the object; and
different objects appear to us to have varying colors because of their
varying absorption and reflecting qualities.
Similarly, no such thing as _sound_ exists in the universe. If there
were no living being on our globe, no such thing as “sound” could
exist. A train of cars might fall off a high bridge with a terrific
crash, but no sound would be emitted! Sound consists of air vibrations,
which are in themselves soundless; these impinge upon our ears, are
carried to the brain, and there transformed into sound. We then “hear”
them. But these air vibrations in themselves are soundless; they might
go on forever, if no human ear intercepted them, into space, and
no sound would ever be heard. We feel that we might take a pair of
scissors, so to speak, and snip them in the middle, before they reach
the human, and thus destroy them. In such case, no sound would ever
reach us. Sound, like color, is really non-existent.