Abstract
MR. PIPER'S explanation of the curious phenomenon pointed out by Mr. Betz is presumably correct; that there are two station points used in vision can, however, scarcely be demonstrated. The positions of the nodal points of the eye are shifted during accommodation for near vision, and perhaps this displacement is what Mr. Piper refers to. In general it is difficult to observe the apparent motions of objects which Mr. Piper mentions, and it is still more difficult to trace such motions to the optical properties of the eye, since we are here dealing, not with optical images which can be directly examined, but with mental impressions. Thus König pointed out (Wied. Ann., xxviii. pp. 367–368, 1886; “Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur physiologischen Optik,” xiii. p. 58, Leipzig) that patients, on first being provided with strong divergent spectacles, complain that, on moving their eyes without turning their heads, stationary objects appear to move. After a time this apparent motion ceases to be observed, or, indeed, to be observable, but on removing the spectacles stationary objects appear to move in a sense opposite to that previously observed with the spectacles. In this case a readjustment of judgment respecting visual impressions has been effected; the result shows to what a great extent judgment enters into the act of vision.
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EDSER, E. Phenomena of Vision. Nature 68, 177 (1903). https://doi.org/10.1038/068177b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/068177b0
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