The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-17

dox seems TO have certain attraction
fer the human mind. Anything contrary
to preconceived opinions has for many au
Irresistible fascination. So much IS this
the case that when genuine paradoxes
happen TO be scarce. or altogether lack
ing, persons are generally TO be found OF
sufficient ingenuity TO invent them.
In very early times eastern thinkers be-
guiled the monotony of numbers-perhaps
also Of their lives-by grouping figures in
the form of magic squares, the peculiar
property Of which was that when added
up horizontally. vertically or diagonaliy
the sum total was always the same. Some
thing Of a paradox lay in this device, see
ing that one might naturally expect the
totals to be different. Later on mathemat-
ical science stepped in. and laid down hard
and fast rules for the construction not
only of magic squares pure ana simple,
but of squares within spares, pentabons,
hexa CONS, and other geOmetrical figures,
all possessed of the same curious proper
ties. Then, of course, the paradox was a
paradox no longer, for. as often happens,
the enigma OF one age Is but the tlalSil
OF the next. such mathematical prob
lens even as the quadrature of the Circle,
the duplication of the cube, ana such IKE.
had, in themselves and i'm their day some
thing paradoXical about them until such
time as their insolubility was demoH-
in its statement and easy OF solution, lt
was found impossible to solve.
But the lover of puzzle and paradox need
not despair on this account In spite of
the advance of modern science. there viii
always remain for his delectatiOn an
abundant store OF marNcls. Fact Delns
stranger than fiction. there viii always
be, as there always has been, queer side
of things region quite as fertile III
surprises as that explored by Alice In
Wonderland. The difficulty is not so
%
where to begin, in the way of illustra-
ton.
paradoxcs are TO be found i'm the economy
OF human vision. There is that old puzzle
paradox, for eNample-One which even
the intellect of "A heplcr did not dcspse-
10 wit: how il is that we see objects
erect. Notwithstanding the well known
fact that the pictures on the retina of
the eye are inverted Kepler, in his sup
PIGMENT TO Nitellio, was lain 10 conclude
that the inverted image, somehow or 9th
er but chiefly with the aid of the other
senses, such as that OF touch, was rec
titled by the judgment of the observer.
Later psychologists have exercised their
ingenuity over the self-same problem.
quite lately. in a scientific journal Of no
mean repute, the position was gravely
maintained that the observer. having
really no other criterion of up or down
than the evidence Of his own Inverted
vision, upside down was really the same
thing as down side up, or, In other words,
erect. Another authority in the same
ton of the difficulty. Noticing that the
image OF lighted candle reflected on the
retina Of an exercised eye, appeared to
him inverted, he reasoned that as his own
sense of vision perceived the image thus
upside down, therefore upon the retina OF
the percipient proper it must really be
in exactly the reverse position, namely
erect. A clever guess, certainly, but one
which leaves the problem very much as
II was before. The real explanation is APP
parenty the view given by Prof. Cleland
of Glasgow University in his Animal
Physiology" that the inversion of the re-
final image is really no reason why the
landscape should appear to US inverted,
and that what we perceive is not the re-
final image, but a number of sensations
adds. why the landscape is not seen in
verted, We must explain why it is not seen
inside our heads. But, in spite of this
lucid rationale of erect fundamentally
the only true one-a popular paradox the
question viii doubtless remain, at all
events for some time to come.
lie was an acute observer who once re-
marked, the more knowledge the more
paradox" This would seem to be true
nowadays, seeing that. il is seriously
doubted in scientific circles if we see with
our eyes at all! Prof Hirth, a recognized
authority on such subjects, contends that
II Is only in very limited sense that we
can be said 10 see without eyes, and that
IN any case. We do not perceive with
them. this latter function being reserved
for certain important organs of the brain,
termed by him the internal eyes" The
functions Of the retina, Prof. Hirth main
tains. have in the past been very gravelv
oVerestimated. Should this apparent
paradox be sUbstantiated, it will no lon
ger be the conclusive argument il once
was considered TO be to aver that any,
thing happened because we saw it with
our eyes! 1t may be added that the
above paradox is rendered if possible
still more paradoXical when il is soberly
ainrmed in sundry quarters. among
others by Drs. Luys and Rosenthal that
ii Is not impossible 10 imagine theoreti-
cally, state of matters in the human
organism in which ear-gate and vice YER
Sd, the DISCRIMINATION Of sound from col
or etc, depending, not upon the external
nerve examinations, which receive as
We are led to believe a wholly uniform
stimulus, but upon the central appara-
tus situated within the brain Accord
ing 10 this theory. observes q recent com
mentator sound might for us be literally
translated into color; sonata by Beeth-
oven might seem a picture by Raphael
and we might enjoy a symphony in blue
and silver, or a nocturne i'm black and
gold.
After such a startling paradox as the
ABOVE. we may be pardOned for being
somewhat skeptical OF anything connect.
ed with the pair of organs which we are
accustomed to call our eyes. And rightly
so, Tor paradox once more confronts us
mere. or having two eyes most of us
are tolerably assured. II seems, how.
ever, that our remote ancestors We're
credibly possessed Of three. the third he
ing situated at the back of the head Tn.
fortunately, all that remains to us of this
doubtless highly useful organ is repre.
SSilNtu ~ the plNedl Sland, a soft body
about the size of a pea, situated at thF
base of the brain. This rudimentarN
structure, however. in some lower forms
Of life-nOtably in one kind of lizard-ha,
an opening to the light, and is undoubf.
eddy susceptible of visual impressions
Passing by some curious paradoXes con
nected with the phenomena of color
blindness" a much more complicated az
fair than it is generally supposed to be
We find the reign Of paradox to extend fal
beyond the range of human vision int
the realms of space. Not long ago the non
ular mind was much exercised by the dis
coVery CT some curious rectilinear mark
ings on the surface of the planet Mars
which were conjectured by some to be ca
nals-a conclusion perhaps scarcely justi
fed by the facts. Prof Delboeuf however
ayailing himself of this hypothesis fran
ed some elaborate calculations based OF
the density and force of gravitation OF
the Marian planet as compared with oui
own. conclusiVely showing that If Mar
were really inhabited by human beings
they must be entirely different from our
serves in many respects, the condition.
OF life there, owing to the laws Of gravs
tation alone being perfectly irreconciIa
bic with our mode Of living. Among othel
things, Prof. Delboeuf demonstrated tina
the Martians, cOetris paribus would as
cend six of our ordinary steps at a time
and that owing to his power of levitatfor
they would require to have their windO,y.
haTripadad inst hn y1,, +1-