3o6 TRANSACTIONS OF THE CANADIAN INSTITLTE. [VOL. V. 



with direct vision alone the reading could never exceed a slow spelling 

 of the letters. Hence, if we speak of the use of certain kinds of type we 

 have to ask not only which forms are the most easily recognized when 

 viewed directly, but we have also to examine at what distance from the 

 fixation point they can be recognised. Some rough trials which I 

 made some time ago showed that the Roman capitals with their 

 marked simple geometrical configuration are decidely superior to the 

 peculiarly shaped German capitals. But, on the other hand, the small 

 German letters, although they are more complicated in their forms, 

 seem to be, on account of their marked prominences, and their cornered 

 appendices above and below the line, superior to the Roman letters. 

 The latter are too much rounded and at a short distance from the 

 centre nearly all look alike. Further, in the German letters, the 

 different forms of " s " at the end and at the beginning of root syllables 

 and special combinations for " st " and " sz " give greater variability. 

 It seems to me also, that the repetition of forms in the small Roman 

 letters is too great, " b," " d," " p " and " q " are exactly the same form 

 placed in the four quadrants of rectangular co-ordinates, in a plane. 



The above misrepresentations concerning the function of indirect 

 vision have their origin with those Scientists, who in trying to make 

 the results of Science digestible to the public, are inclined to state 

 everything as " explained." As a consequence of this, things 

 which are not understood are very often said to be imperfect. 

 Such has certainly been the case when the " imperfection " and 

 " inferior development " of the eccentric retina are spoken of. 

 Some even go so far as to say that the peripheral retina is unde- 

 veloped because of a lack of exercise of its activities. Those holding 

 this view do not see that it is very questionable whether an eye 

 whose retina had not the difference between direct and indirect vision 

 would be more serviceable than one which had these differences. I 

 think such an eye would be a very imperfect sense organ, and this is in 

 accordance with the general principle which is observed everywhere in 

 nature — viz : The higher an organism is developed the more the 

 qualitative division of labour is applied in its constituents. In certain 

 cases we seem to find a deviation from this principle in higher organisms, 

 for example, in the fact that we have two eyes; but a closer examination 

 will show that this same principle is fundamental in these cases also. 

 Binocular vision is not for the purpose of securing twice as much light 

 intensity as one eye could give. This is clearly proven by Fechner's 

 paradox experiment, which shows that when one eye sees the full light, 

 the intensity of the sensation is diminished when a certain amount is 



