The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-21

This /. What Fish Sees Leoling At !
Duck SWIMMING just Outside the Limit
Of His 'sWindou" of Light. The Under
water Part Of the Duck & Seen by Direct
Vision and Joined % lt With q Streak
Across the Middle Duplicate Image Re-
nected By the Surface Of the Water So
That the Duck SCENE 10 Have Two Pairs
of Legs and an Egg-Shaped Body.
IRON time to time novelists have
busted themselves with imaginative
stories of how the world looks to
a flea; how the countryside appears to a
bird high up in the air; and one imagina-
tive writer told how life would seem IL
we all stood On our heads. But it has
remained for q serious minded scientist,
DR.. Francis Ward, the distinguished
British physicist, to inquire into how the
world really looks to Ash in the water
And DR.. Ward has emerged from his
long line of experiments, observations and
photographs with the most fantastic story
of them all.
The fish, as DR.. Ward discovered, looks
out upon his world with what may be
called a triplfcate vision. He pereeives
an object through the water only; he OBJ
serves what il going on around him by
means of reflections thrown downward
from the surface Of the water, and he Is
able to look through both water and air
directly upward ~ far &c the clouds.
But, no matter what view fills his eye,
/! it is all m Illusion ehes fish never sees
anything q 4 really exists with true
graduation b color values, although he
is not insensibls 70 diiferent c0iOrs.
The fnny tribes have, moreover, an ad-
vantage Of vision possessed by no other
creature. When any fish or animal COM
pietely immersed in water swims directly
overhead into q watchful fish's vision, he
not only gets an underbody view of that
fish or animal, but also top view from
its reflection on the water directly above
Thus the fish beats rs all by seeing all
around on all sides Of things.
Wherever fish swims in the daytime
a bright circle of light, called a window
by DR.. Ward, seems to that fish to follow
him about, keeping Immediately overhead.
Through this circle of light, under some
circumstances, fish has q greater range
of vision than any living thing. When
near the surface the fish can see com
pletely around this circle to all points of
the horizon at the same time. In rising
too near the surface, however, the circle
of light contracts, and If he should stick
his head out of the water the fish becomes
almost blind, being able to discern only
the largest objects by means Of the deep
shadows they cast.
Man is, perhaps, the strangest looking
creature that comes within fsh's vision.
He does not look like the human being
we know, but weird monstrosity with
two bodies, four arms, four legs and with
head floating in the air some distance
from the remainder of his body.
Let us look through trout's eyes
when his stream IL being fshed by an
angler. Lying peacefully on the bottom
of the stream, the trout views the sur
rounding landscape from the circular
window" which dims and distorts any
object that appears near the rim: This
window" is framed in a mirror which
fenecLS an unut6tOTtSa view O1 everything
beneath the surface. This reflection is
either brilliant or sombre in tone, accord
ing to the amount Of light in the stream.
Plentiful illumination gives the mirror"
not only greater rejecting quality, bu:
also makes it possible for the fish to
distinguish objects farther away.
A fly floating towards him glides
slowly into the window" Casually the
trout approaches it and the window
gradually contracts with each stroke of
his tail as he nears the surface until.
when he reaches his prey by jumping out
of the water, the window" closes to-
gether, and If he misses he falls back into
Che water again. Presently dark creases
come across the window" and confusion
reigns about him for a while. When
calm is established huge double pair of
legs is seen invading his realm and a
distorted face, devoid of brow, with Sits
for eyes and mouth from ear 70 ear, peers
in from the edge Of his window" Is It
any wonder that the trout that has missed
the bait quickly sinks from the surface
to the bottom and stays there, frightened
at the very aspect of man?