ART AND EYESIGHT. 



465 



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This is shown in a modified way by the accompanying dia- 

 gram. 



If the page be tilted so as to be held in the line of vision, and 

 if we " sight " along these heavy black lines, they are seen to be 

 really parallel ; and yet, when viewed as the page is ordinarily 

 held, they appear inclined 

 more or less to each other. 

 Such an effect is produced 

 only in exceptional cases, 

 where the axis of the astig- 

 matism varies in the two 

 eyes, and this is therefore 

 rather an unfair example. 

 But the fact remains that 

 the blurring of lines in cer- 

 tain directions may cause an 

 artist to misrepresent very 

 greatly the object which he 

 is trying to reproduce. 



Before leaving this phase 

 of astigmatism it is worth 

 while to note in passing a 

 significant motion of the artist, already mentioned, in tipping his 

 head from side to side, as he stands off to criticise his work. I 

 am inclined to think he does this instinctively, in order to see 

 better the errors in drawing caused by his own astigmatism. 



The imperfect photographs of the Taj Mahal may serve to 

 illustrate this point for some of the readers of this article. If 

 one eye be closed (simply to exclude the correcting vision of the 

 other), and if either of the astigmatic pictures be looked at while 

 the book is rotated from side to side in the plane of the open page, 

 one position can be found by most persons in which the lines are 

 decidedly more distinct than in any other. 



But, as the artist can not conveniently tip up the sides of his 

 easel without disturbing also the equilibrium of brushes and 

 paints and- bottles, he simply steps back and tips his head. 



Moreover, the critic does the same. He, too, instinctively 

 wishes to obtain the clearest lines for to some these blurred, as- 

 tigmatic images are confusing, disagreeable, almost painful and 

 to obviate that, the stranger in the studio, when he comes to see 

 the finished picture, tips the head just as did the artist when he 

 was at his work. The more closely we observe actions called 

 " instinctive," the more frequently do we find they have an under- 

 lying cause. 



There is another imperfection of vision, more frequently arti- 

 ficial and temporary than due to any structural change. This is 



VOL. XLVII. 38 



