The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-05

directly fatal 20 these fishes: they soon
lle "Atu taken from the river and placed
p AAA..tlA N-ilcl are supplied with ahuud-
snce OF Asht These fish. although they
-t'1fr ll4 iilelilry eyes, never have the
sllshicst remaining trace % nerva cells
~ lne wasted optic nerve Chat is ] have
ue'en unable 10 discover anl1 thus show
ING tndl their appreciation OF lieht i-
uot derived Through The agency OF their
eyes An fyclcss spider taken from tlt
stthle cavern sl0Wea a like d.stlste Tor
ASnt, and yet in this insect there rs abb
~ lteiy no Vcstlge or an eve 81 its nerves
Finatly, friend OF mine. a youth Of IS
totally blind since birth. can different
late between daylight and darkness. on
one occasion / carefully hlindfolded HIM
-uA tei nim into the well-iightel office
or brewery Che had never been m q
brewery hcforC), and asked him DO il were
H@ht or dark. lie answered that &c was
almost as light a. day I then conducted
ann INTO the dark beer vaults and ms soon
as ne passed the door De exclaimed. GLOW
SoId and dark 4 IS I'm herer' Thinking that
ne mignt possibly associate darkness with
GOODNESS, I asked him if this were Oh,
case No he replied. u see the dark.
same"
In these animals-and I include man
Continued darkness has modified sen4i
ohlty tseuse OF touchl Co such an extent
that IL has partially taken ON the func
uohs OF the useful organs-the eyes; thcst
creatures see with their skins.
l do not believe that there is a crea.
tufe IN existence to-day. whether it IA,
eyes or not. which cannot tell the differ
ence hetWeen night and day. Prof Sem
per says that IN the Pelew Islands %,
Iouhd small frcsh-water creature. who's,
generic name is CymothOe. in pools whcr,
daylight penetrated. that was absolutely
hlnd. We have fresh-water Cymothot
llNlng ln our own waters that arr clos,
kln 20 the Felew Islander mentioned bl
Semper. and which are not blind. Atoms
the middle or their backs. over the edgJ
OF each segment. there is an Oblonx. darn
spot Ih's little collection OF colorinr
matter Is covered by q transparent mem
hrane' the curnea. and mats "a special nerve
seading TO the brain, II l may use the
word.
These spots are primitive eyes. the ana
logues OF which are preserved by many of
me true worms ] am inclined 10 believe
that Semper would find primitive eyes
OF some form OF other. Ia the Cymothot
ne mentions if he were again TO examine
IL. lhese insects, etc, which dwell I'm
caves ana which have eyes are new arriv.
ais they have not dwelt long enough
IN total darkness to have experienced tho
run effects of changed Surroundings They
show, however. that they are beginning
to feel such effects. for there rs more
or less diminution In the color cells of
the eyes and body coverings. Ny ex-
perlmentS on FISH and frogs show conclu-
slVely that the color producing function
Is directly due to light stimulation The
longer fish and frogs are kept IN total
darkness the lower is the number of color
cells and the smaller IS the amount of
colorlng matter.
This accounts for the fact that ana
mas Which have dwelt I'm total darkness
Tor untold ages are absolutely colorless.
augmented or eolored fishes nevertheless
nave well-developed organs or vision.
have been taken from such depths lover
a milo as 10 preclude the possibility OF a
single ray of daylight Moreover. / am
inclined TO believe that the vast dcpths ot
the ocean, In certain localities. Ne bathed
m continuous phosphorescent glow. so
that creatures living there neither lose
their color nor their eyes. sufficient light
being present to prevent degeneration
Where eyeless and colpress fishes are
brought up from great depths, there the
ocean is not phosphorescent. but is IN
absolute darkness