5:-)4- 



SOME SENSE DEFECTS PSYCHOLOGICALLY CONSIDERED. 



Fic- 



Bleeding on the retina, of course, plays havoc with the deli- 

 cate nerve-endings. The present appearance of a candle-flame 

 at a distance of about 6 feet I have endeavoured to show in 



2. 



The right eye (on the reader's right), it will be noticed, has 

 no central image : the left eye has. 1 need not say I watch that 

 central image lovingly and anxiously : if it goes, I shall no longer 

 be able to read. 



It will be understood that for both eyes the whole circle is 

 a blurr of mottled light with the indicated figures standing out 

 more or less clearly. The right eye has one little clear image 

 outside the circle : I cannot explain it, but it is always there. 



I had a strange experience after the gush of blood in the 

 left eye had settled down and left the eye clear again. Lying 

 down' one afternoon, and looking at the ceiling while the light 

 from the window entered the eye obliquely, I distinctlv saw 

 what is quite familiar to me as a microscopic view of the red 





WW , 



Fig. 2. 



corpuscles of blood. I cannot be mistaken : the shape of each 

 corpuscle was quite clear, and (as scientists know) it is unique. 

 I could repeat the experience at will until the blood had time 

 to be quite re-absorbed. It is a curious variant oif the experi- 

 ment by which some people are able, with a proper adjustment 

 oif oblique light, to project into the darkness a highly magni- 

 fied view of their own retinal blood-vessels. But I wonder 

 whether anybody else has ever seen and recognized his own 

 blood-corpuscles without their leaving the body. 



The next point of psychological interest was that the two 

 images, till then firmly co-ordinated, began to separate. It was 

 as if the bodily system had a will of its own apart from con- 

 sciousness. There was a long struggle between me and it. I 

 had complete control over the muscles, and w^as able always to 

 put the straying right image back again. I could even move 

 it at will and attend to both images at once. I often, for fun, 

 used to put one person's head on another person's shoulders 

 to see the effect. I was able to compare tile or wall-paper pat- 



