Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-04-17
THEIR QUEER SIDE.
A REGION OF THINGS THAT is QUITE
FERTILE IN SURPRISES.
The Irresistible Fascination OF Seeming
ParadOxes-Why DO We See Everything
Upside Down?-Is Seeing Good Reason
For Believing?

Allco III NOnucrlanu. Inc ulluCully IL
not so much TO know how TO select ms to
know where To begin In the way of Illus
tration
CuriOusly enough, not few scientific
| paradOXes are to be found in the economy
of human vision. There is that old puzzle
paradox, for oxample-onc which even the
intellect Of "a Kepler did not deSpise-to
wit, how il is that we see objects erect,
Notwithstanding the well known fact shat
the pictures on the rotina of the eye are
inverted Kcplcr, in his supplement TO
Nitellio, was fain to conclude that the in
verified image, somehow or other, but
chiefly with the aid of the other senses,
such as that Of touch, was "rectided' by
the Judgment Of the observer Later
psychologists have exercised their ingenu-
ity over the selfsame problem. Quite
lately, in n scientific journal of no mean
rcpute, the position was gravoly main
tanned that the observer, having really no
other criterion Of up or down than the evil
dencc of his own Gnverted) vision, upside
down was really the same thing as down
side up, or, in other words, erect
Another authority in the same medium
had still more ingenious solution of the
difficulty Noticing that the image Of
lighted candle reflected on the rotina Of an
oxcised 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 Inc in exactly the re-
verse position namely, erect. A clever
guess certainly, but one which leaves the
problem very much az it was before, The
real explanation is apparently the view
given by Professor Clcland of Glasgow
la A
that the inversion of the rotinal image is
really no reason why the landscape should
appear to Us inverted and that what we
perceive is not the retinal image, but
number of sensations excited Ivy it. If we
are TO explain, lac adds, why the landscape
is not seen inverted, we must explain why
1t is not seen inside our heads. But in
spite Of this lucid rationale of erect vision
probably the only true one-a popular
paradox the question will doubtless re-
main, at all events for some time 10 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 it is seriously
doubted in scientific circles If we see with |
our eyes at all. Professor Hirth, "a recog-
nized authority on such subjects. contends |
that it is only in "a very limited sense that
we can be said 10 see with our 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 "intcrnal eyes. >" The |
functions Of the retina. Professor Hirth |
maintains, have in the past been very |
gravely overestimated. Should this up |
parent paradox be suhstantiated, it will no |
longer be the conclusive argument 1t once |
I.,t
happened because we saw it with "our
eyes," 1t may be added that the above |
paradox Is rendered, If possible, still more |
paradoxical when it is soberly affirmed, In |
sundry quarters-among others by Drs. |
Luys and Rosenthal-that it is not impos-
sible TO imagine Theoretically, a state OF |
matters in the human organism In which |
ear gate might upon occasion play the part |
of eye gate and vice versa, the discrimina-
ton of sound from color, etc, depending
not upon the external nerve examinations,
which receive, rs we are led to believe
wholly uniform stimulus but upon the
central apparatus situated within the
brain. According TO this theory, observes
a recent commentator sound might for us
be literally translated into color, sonata
by Beethoven might seem picture by
Raphael, and we might enjoy a symphony
in blue and silver or nocturne in black
and gold.
After such "a startling paradox as the
above we may be pardOncd for being some
what Skcptical of anything connected with
the pair of organs which we are accustom-
ed 10 call our eyes. And rightly so, for
paradox once moro confronts Us here OF
having two eyes most OF us are tolerably
assured. 1t seems however, that our re-
1 a
three, the third being situated at the back
of the head Unfortunately all that re-
mains TO Us of this doubtless highly useful
organ is represented by the pineal gland
a soft body about the size Of pea, stu
ated at the base Of the brain This rudi-
mentary structure, however, in some lower
forms of lifc-notably in one kind of lizard
has an opening TO the light and IS UNI
doubtcdly susceptible OF visual impress
sions
Even space itself-empty space, as we
are accustomed to call it's no longer a
void. 1t literally teens with paradoxes.
A % ton armstrong gun hurls IL solid shot
q distance of IL miles, the highest point in
the arc described by the shot being / = 600
feet above the earth's surface Imagine,
now, that the projectile instead Of return
Ing to the earth in gradually descending
curve, were to continue its flight into
what is commonly called infinite space,
what would be the ultimate RESULT We
might naturally conclude that it's prolong.
ed flight would lead it ever farther and
farther away from the point of departure.
This, however, Is by no means so certain
as 1t at first sight appears. The refine
ments Of mathematical Investigation have
led several inquirers to question whether
the shot might not, of course after "a lapse
Of time indefinitely great, return TO the
place from which it was fired from pre-.
cisely the opposite direction, just rs "a YES.
sci circumnav igating the globe might sail
eastward round the Cape Of Good Hope,
returning from the westward via Cape
Horn. 1t all depends upon the essential
nature of space, whether its curvature"
be Zero" or otherwise, and that is moot
point For the benefit of the curious it
may be added that the matter mainly
hinges upon the still undecided question
whether the three angles of a triangle are
greater than, equal to or less than two