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THE OPTICAL LANTERN AND CINEMATOGRAPH JOURNAL.
'79
EYES
tfow to U$c Them.
Professor Goi.dinc.
IN the " auld lang syne " it was once the fortune of the present writer, when passing along the towing path of a canal in Lancashire, to encounter one of the patient horses engaged in towing a heavily laden bar^e. The driver of this useful animal, with the peculiar refinement and courtesy which, in that far distant period, characterised his class, addressed to the writer this pertinent question, " Eh ! carnt thee believe thoy own oyes ? "
The enquiry was scarcely called for, being addressed to an utter stranger, and on a subject of no public interest ; but in sober fact, if we do always believe our own eyes, we may discover that in many instances, and in no small degree, they may betray us, and lead us very far astray.
The truth is that we constantly need not merely to see, but to learn to understand and rightly appreciate what we see. To cry for the moon is commonly supposed to be one of the follies of untrained childhood, and it may be that in their early years many of us were very little wiser ; but apart from experience, which can, in this as in other matters, only be gained gradually, and, perhaps, at the cost of much toil and many disappointments. What is there in the appearance of our satellite to indicate that it is situated far beyond our reach.
Persons, who, owing to cataract or some other natural defect, have never enjoyed
the blessing of sight, have sometimes by surgical skill been enabled later in life to gain the power of vision ; and such persons have usually found themselves misled on every hand by the newly acquired sense, and have been compelled to verify by touch or some other means what they saw or supposed they saw.
One such person imagined that all the objects he saw must be in actual contact with his eyes, while another finding, by handling it, that a picture in accurate perspective, and apparently solid, was in reality painted on a plane surface, enquired whether his sight or his touch was deceiving him ; and we are all liable to fail in estimating the true size and distance of mountains or other remote objects seen under unfamiliar circumstances, through an unusually clear atmosphere, for example.
Even such familiar objects as the sun and moon appear smaller when high in the heavens than when near the horizon, and we can only judge of unknown objects by comparison with others whose size and true character are known to us.
The image produced by rays of light, which have been brought to a focus by passing through the optical system of the eye, is certainly projected upon the Retina in an inverted position ; yet the brain, having unconsciously learned by experience what meaning to attach to certain impressions conveyed by movements of the optic nerve, receives no erroneous