AN ARTIST WITH A COLOR-VISION DEFECT - MERYON,CHARLES

Charles Meryon, an important artist of the 19th century, had a congeni tal defect in color vision. Meryon recognized this defect during his s tudy of art, and he gradually gave up painting in favor of etching. Th is biographical article includes reproductions of some of Meryon's etc hings and one oil painting, ''Ghost Ship.'' Two palates display the pr incipal colors of the spectrum, as seen normally and as seen with a co lor vision defect. ''Ghost Ship'' reveals the color-defective artist's typical preference for blue and yellow.