Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1903-07-01
PICTURES IN THE EYE
ONE OF Thg MYSTERIES OF THAT
COMPLEX ORGAN, THE BRAIN.

Ing Cofored Fnncfful and Chang
'hs images That Appear on Lying
Down AFTER an Exciting Day.
There are many who will not readily
understand what Is meant by pictures
In the eye, unless 1t be the imagination.
or minds eye" OF Hamlet. for the
power OF seeing them is not conferred
on all alike. Even those who have
oeen them from time TO time, and prob
ably given them little heed. may NOT
feel altogether sure about the matter
without word OF explanation.
Lying In bed, after a firing or excit-
ing day, with your eyes closed and
about to fall asleep, have you never
seen. apparently I'm the eyeball. spots
and streaks OF colored light. changing
their forms and shifting their places?
Have you never watched them passing
Into complicated patterns. like those
OF the Kaleidoscope. or into pretty
landscapes quite unknown To you. or
INTO strange faces. now and again
very beautiful or angelic. but often as
ugly and hideous as COLLINS from the
Internal regions. or. haply. into scenes
OF action reminding you OF the drama.
but such as you never saw i'm real life
or upon any stage: These pictures are
more alive than the living pictures"
of the music halls. They have the hues
OF life and art and rival the quick
change artist I'm their protean trans
formations. The animatograph that
can initiate their ceaseless evolution
without a hitch OF tremor will be n
novelty and make the fortune OF its in
ventor
What are theyg IL Is one Of the mys-
terles OF that marvellous miracu-
iouS-organ. the brain. We must dis
unguish them from other mysteries OF
the border land" which lies between
the adjoining states OF wideawake and
sound asleep.
They are not the images OF a reverie
or day dream Whether we recall tho
past I'm our waking hours or invent
new incidents like novelist. we can
govern then 60 some extent and are
quite aware OF their fanciful or mental
character. They are not a halIucina-
ton in the proper sense Of the term.
We feel they are subjective. or within
Us; we suppose them in the eve itself.
whereas we believe a hallucinntion Is
objective. or without us. An appnri-
ton or spectcr that we take for a real
lily is a hallucination. The ghost Of
Hamlcts father. witnessed by several
persons. and the spO0k OF his distant
brother. seen by Lord Brougham. were
probably Authorizations Of "tele-
pathic" order. The picture OF MiIIais
where man starts up and sees a
luminous lady at the foot OF his bed
is case OF hallucination The dream
image of the undergraduate who
dreamed that he was chased by n
green figure and. awakening. saw II in
his room was also hallucination.
Pictures I'm the eye are more akin 10
what are called after images" 4
gentleman ca doctor. IL we are not
mistaken. after a fatiguing DAY. was
cheercd 10y the sight OF a beefSteak for
his dinner as he very well might. but
seemingly the steak made a deep I'm
preston on his mind or his digestion.
for while he was browsing with his
eyes closed after eating 1t. he saw IL
again rs WILDLY as before. and on
dropping asleep he saw IL a third time
in his dream. II was doubtless n sub
stantial steak, not ghost. and yet ii
haunted him.
There is, OF course, more than one
theory OF these living pictures in the
eye or. as they are called in science.
"hypnogogic images" one is that they
are formed on the retina OF the eve
and confined to It, Another Is that
they are purely mental and formed
in the corteN or bark, 81 TO speak. OF
the cercOrum, As often happens. the
truth appears 10 lie IN combination
OF both views Recent observations OF
Nj. Yves Delage have put the question
10 experimental proof. When we look
at bright bOdy-for example, the sun
and shut our eyes we see a colored
spot OF light. and II we move the eve
up or down, 10 right OF left. the spot
moves with il. The spot, I'm fact. is
left by the image OF the sun upon the
retina and therefore moves with IL.
Now, if the hypnOgogic images are on
the retina they will Also move with the
eye. and this is what Nj. Delage has
found. Nevertheless the brain also
comes into play in forming them.