Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1899-10-12
DECEIVED BIZ THE EYE.
nciden!s That Show How Difficult II Is to
Put Confidence in Your Sight.

Incidents That Show Ho~ Difficult 1t Is to
Put Confidence in Your Sight.
How many times. when Your vera
city has. been questioned have You
rlench.A an argument hy saying: Il
can surely believe my own eyes:
The words are always on somebody's
lips. Yet they are hy 10 means 80 con
NincnG aS would seem II first sigh:
10 be the ease. Read this paragraph
over again: yYlr eyes mNy =" mis-
leading You just nov
Eighteen months ago n we'll known
man died in London. and II few days
after his death "A London journalist d"
clared that H. had met the Deceased III
London club. and, moreover, assert
cd that he had spoken 10 him
Andrew Lang once met >ourhnlN in
the street whom he took fos Il Well
known university man He >pok" t"
him. shook hands with h..n AMI Left
him, and the next day he was ~tartle't-
10 learn that nj the moment h" WAS
Speaking 10 the gentleman in the
street his university friend was dying
in Il place more than "A hundred miles
away
There are people of rcputc who de
clare that they have seen Farnril since
his death. But these instances are
eclipScd by the case OF Cardinal ~Eo-
han one of the central figures OF the
famous diamond necklace story in
which Marie Antonette was supposed
to be concerned. The cardinal was the
dupe of an aristocratic adventures.
who declared that the queen wished
| him 10 ofuan the necklace for her.
TO convince the cardinal the advcn-
| turcSS Informed him that the queen
| would meet him for Il few minutes at
Il certain place at midnight. and Il lady
| resembling the queen in appearance"
| was paid literally Ia play the part.
| The cardinal. who knew Marie Au,oin-
cite we'll. convcrscd with her for som.
minutes. when n footstcp was heard,
and the mock queen hurried away. For
| weeks the cardinal believed ne bad
| seen the queen.
| The explanation of the amazing story
| -. of course. that the cardinal had fo-
| days anticipated the meeting. and tina:
the image Of the queen had been all
along in his mind. 1t is quit" ro~sihl"
| for \ man 10 be SO strongly impressed
with some object thar his Imagination
sumnons up 10 his sight scenes which
| do not in reality exist. An English
| explorer once named a range Of noun,
taius which il was afterward found
bad 40 existence
DO Won still trust your own eyes. and
think them incapabl" Of misleading
| You: Try a simpl" experiment. Take
| n burning stick and ask Il friend tG
turn il around and around in the air.
| Your brain tells You that there * only
one spark but your eyes see circle Of
fire Us long as III" stick goes roc n1
Yet the stick can only be at on. point
at once. and there is no circl. Of light
at all
The explanation is simple. When al
object i brought before YOU aud tai cn
away YOU retain the impression of il
after il has been removed perhaps
for 4 sixth Of a second: that the
impression made ~ one point remain.
until the stick CONT round 10 III.
same point again. But he eye certain
ly mi~leads you. in that il makes yoil
believe thar something exists which
docs not really exist at all.
II i doubtful If two verbatim fe-
ports Of a sp"eeh wc... ever exactly
alik-. AMI every journalist knows that
two reporters frequently disagree a.
10 a certain word used by speaker
Eur ". kept ny notes ami they
CAM ll. eaI one. and on --:srriu-
~ their notebooks. i, tran~plr+-~ that