Evening star., 1941-02-04
Eye Defect Gives
Victims Topsy-1urvy
View Of World
Military Medicine Clinic
Told of Disease Studied
At Naval Laboratory
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

A "cock-ey world" disease, for
the study of which special labora-
tory has been set up at the Naval
| Air Station at Pensacola, Fla, was
described before the postgraduate
clinic on military medicine at the
George Washington University
Medical School today.
This defect, aniseikonia. has been
known for the past 10 years as a
relatively rare condition present in
about per cent of persons suffering
from eye strain Recent expert
ments have shown, however, that 1t
is present in some degree in about
half the adult population, that some
have 1t to pathological degree
without knowing it and that it prob
ably is the cause of airplane crashes
and automobile accidents.
The size and perhaps the shape
of the same object differs for each
eye, it was explained by DR.. Her.
mann Burian of Dartmouth Col
lege, where the condition was first
discovered and where most of the
studies have been conducted These
images must be fused in the brain to
get a picture of a three dimensional
world.
Cannot See World As II Is.
The person with aniseikonia to
marked degree cannot see this
world AS it really is. Everybody
probably has the condition to some
extent, since no two eyes are ex-
actly the same. but normally the
brain compensates for the defect
by correcting the image with sub
conscious memories and lifelong eX-
perience with depth perception.
When the condition gets a little
worse this correction causes strain
which results in headaches-espe-
cially when the eyes are used for
reading. The eye specialist, unless
he has been specially trained in
aniseikonia, finds nothing wrong
with the eyes, and the condition may
grow progressively worse.
But it is on the borderline be-
tween an aniseikonia for which
there is an adequate compensation
| and one which sends the victim to
the doctor that the danger lies, Dr.
Burian pointed out. The compensa-
ton mechanism may fail under
physical or emotional stress. or when
the brain is too much occupied with
other things.
Demonstrates With Glasses.
With glasses which altered the size
of the image for each eye he showed
the physicians today how square
box could be contorted into all sorts
of fantastic shapes. The aniseikonia
victim may live in just such a world
without knowing it. What seems
fiat or vertical may actually be at an
angle of as much as as degrees.
The distortion in space perception
may be the reason, he pointed out,
for many ''middle-of-th driv-
ers." They think they are sticking
to the right and will swear so in
court. Witnesses who testify other
wise they consider liars.
The condition is specially impor-
tant in landing plane A flyer will
swear he came down with his wings
level when actually one may have
been tipped many degrees. A
smashed plane results.
| The condition, DR.. Burian said,
may be located either in the retina
! of the eye or in the visual center of
the brain. 1t can be corrected by
special glasses
The significance of proper depth
perception in military aviation was
stressed by Maj. John M. Hargreaves,
who told of various tests through
which prospective pilots and gunners
now are put. DR.. G. Victor Simpson
described abnormal conditions of
/ the fundus of the eye.