We may also decide at once that such a boy would be
useless for all artistic work in which the nuances of colors are of
consequence, or as a laborer in certain departments of a dyeing
establishment, and that such a color-blind girl would not do at a
dressmaker's or in a millinery store. But if we come to the question
whether such a color-blind individual may enter into the business of
gardening, in spite of the inability to distinguish the strawberries
in the bed or the red flowers among the green leaves, the first
necessity, after all, would be to find out how far the particular
demands of this vocation make the ability to discriminate color a
prerequisite, and how far psychical substitutions such as a
recognition of the forms and of differences in the light intensity,
may be sufficient for the practical task. Moreover, where not merely
such mental defects, but more subtly shaded variations within normal
limits are involved, it would be superficial, if only the mental
states were examined and not at the same time the mental requirements
of the vocations themselves. The vocation should rather remain the
starting-point. We must at first find out what demands on the mental
system are made by it and we must grade these demands in order to
recognize the more or less important ones, and, especially for the
important ones, we must then seek exact standards with experimental
methods.
Such an experimental investigation may proceed according to either of
two different principles.
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