Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1897-10-07
ACCUSING EYES.
Fanciful Theory the Basis Of Nj
Claretie's Last Novel.


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No more curious romance than The
Accuser. by NJ. Jules Claretie, has ap-
peared for a long time. 1t is based on
the theory that when a manis murdered
! the image of his murderer can be seen
ir his eye. The Accuser in this in
stance is the victims eye.
Mr.. Claretie explains why he wrote a
{ story on such a subject. True, the
iGea is a mere hypothesis" he says,
but peasants will tell you that If you
look into the eye of a slaughtered OK
you will find there the image of the
butcher. Moreover, thirty years age
DR.. Bourbon published a photograph of
: ar image found on the retina of a wo-
man who was assassinated June Ii
1868, and the publication caused a
great stir in the medical and scientific
world. The Medico-Legal society in
structed the celebrated DR.. Vernois to
investigate the matter, and he reported
that DR.. Bourbon had not seen, but had
simply fancied that he had seen, an
image in the retina of the assassinated
woman. Before | began to write The
Accuser | ccrsulted DR.. Bronardel, and
he told me that no new discovery had
been made since the time of DIR. Yer
rois. Evidently, then, | had to work
On a mere hypothesis, but the subject
pleased ne, and | went ahead.
And, after all, it may not be a mere
hypothesis. What is a dream today is
q reality tomorrow. Look at the
RCentgen rays! a few years ago no
one dreamed of such a discovery. BY
the way l have dedicated my book to
Prof. Cesare Lombroso, for he is to
some extent an authority on the sub
ject. In a note on psycho-photography
published at Truin. he ~narrates some
wonderful facts. One of them is that
a postage stamp if studied intently for
some time will remain reflected in the
eye of the student. Moreover, at any
! later period, whenever the student
thinks of this postage stamp, the
image will reappear in his eye.
Thought recalls the vanished image"
Several eminent physicians and spe-
cialists have been questioned on the
subject and their views are well
worthy Of attention.
When death comes suddenly or
with a shock" says Or. Berillon, ut
is quite possible that the last image
received by the eye may remain on
the retiua. How long this image
would remain it is difficult to say.
The likelihood is that it would be
covered by other images and thus be
lost to sight. At death al is confu-
sion, and if at the moment of death
there We're any image on the retina it
would also doubtless be confused. A
clear imaag1 could not be obtained
unless the dying man concentrated
all his energy in this direction. If he
were resolved that his assassin's image
should be pictured on his retina, he
might succeed in leaving after death a
clear picture. A dying man, however
thinks of other things, and hence such
a test is practically impossible. There
is no reason, however, why other ex-
periments should not be made. For
example, dogs might be confined in
rooms painted with different colors,
and after a time they might be killed
Thus We could learn whether the re-
tina of a dog killed in d BEDROOM diff
fers at all from the retina of q dog
killed in a blueroom. If there is II
difference it would go to show that
there is a good deal of truth in Mr..
Claretie's hypothesis"
AS a subject for a romance this idea
that the assassin's image is pictured
in his victims eye is excellent" says
DR.. Blum, but from a scientific stand
point it carnot yet be regarded serious
ly. The eye undergoes many rapid
changes. and the experiments which
have been made on the retina have not
yet shown us anything conclusive.
That Mr.. Claretie's hypothesis may
prove TO be a scientific truth is posi-
BILE. He rightly says that what is a
dream tody may be a realty tomor-
row."