Abstract
MR. L. C. THOMSON says in his communication that my experiments1 on colour vision in the dark-adapted eye do not prove that the rods are not necessary for colour vision, because in all cases the blue light of the test field might (according to Mr. Thomson) have stimulated rods—which in Willmer's2 theory are supposed to be mainly responsible for blue and violet vision. It must first be pointed out that my statement "The rods are not necessary for colour vision" is not a general conclusion, as it may appear to be in the quotation given by Thomson. Its context shows that it refers to the particular conditions of the experiments. It continues: "on the contrary, where they [the rods] are present in fair numbers, the colour of the violet test field vanishes"1. This fact is not explained, or even mentioned, by Thomson. It was, however, the crux of the argument.
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References
Pirenne, M. H., Nature, 154, 741 (1944).
Willmer, E. N., Nature, 151, 213 and 632 (1943); 153, 774 (1944).
Wentworth, H. A., Psychological Monographs, 40 (1930).
Gotch (1912) quoted in Parsons, J. H. Sir, "An Introduction to the Study of Colour Vision" (Cambridge, 2nd ed., 1924).
König, A., "Gesammelte Abhandlungen zur Physiologischen Optik" (Leipzig, 1903).
König, A., loc., cit. 396.
König, A., loc., cit. 356.
Østerberg, G., Acta Ophtalm., Suppl. 6 (1935).
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PIRENNE, M. [Letters to Editor]. Nature 155, 177–178 (1945). https://doi.org/10.1038/155177c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/155177c0
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