Perfect Sight Without Glasses. William Horatio Bates

of the sclera (white of the eye) and the side of the sclera. I also became able to obtain images on any surface at will without reflections from the other parts. Before these results were obtained, however, many difficulties had still to be overcome.

       Complicating reflections were a perpetual source of trouble. Reflections from surrounding objects were-easily prevented; but those from the sides of the globe of the electric light were difficult to deal with, and it was useless to try to obtain images on the front of the lens until they had been eliminated, or reduced to a minimum, by a proper adjustment of the light. The same apparent adjustment did not, however, always give similar results. Sometimes there would be no reflections for days; then would come a day when, with the light apparently at the same angle, they would reappear.

      Fig. 28. Image of Electric Filament Upon the CorneaR, rest; A, accommodation. The image is smaller in A, but the change is so slight as to be scarcely noticeable, showing that the alteration in the shape of the cornea during accommodation is very slight. For this reason the ophthalmometer, with its small image, has been thought to demonstrate that the cornea did not change during accommodation.

       With some adjustments of the light multiple images were seen reflected from the front of the lens. Sometimes these images were arranged in a horizontal line, sometimes in a vertical one and sometimes at angles of different degrees, while their distance from each other also varied. Usually there were three of them; sometimes there were more; and sometimes there were only two. Occasionally they were all of the same size, but usually they varied, there being apparently no limit to their possibilities of change in this and other respects. Some of them were photographed, indicating that they were real reflections. Changes in the distance of the diaphragm from the light and from the condenser, and alterations in the size and shape of its opening, appeared to make no difference. Different adjustments of the condenser were equally without effect. Changes in the angle at which the light was adjusted sometimes lessened the number of images and sometimes increased them, until at last an angle was found at which but one image was seen. The images appear, in fact, to have been caused by reflections from the globe of the electric light.

       Even after the light had been so adjusted as to eliminate reflections it was often difficult, or impossible, to get a clear and distinct image of the electric filament upon the front of the lens. One could rearrange the condenser and the diaphragm and change the axis of fixation, and still the image would be clouded or obscured and its outline distorted. The cause of the difficulty appeared to be that the light was not adjusted at the best angle for the purpose and it was not always possible to determine the exact axis at which a clear, distinct image would be produced. As in the case of the reflections from the sides of the globe, it seemed to vary without a known cause. This was true, however: that there were angles of the axis of the globe which gave better images than others, and that what these angles were could not be determined with exactness. I have labored with the light for two or three hours without finding the right angle. At other times the axis would remain unchanged for days, giving always a clear, distinct image.

      Fig. 29. Image of Electric Filament on the Front of the ScleraR, rest; A, accommodation. During accommodation the front of the sclera becomes more convex, because the eyeball has elongated, just as a camera is elongated when it is focussed upon a near object. The spot of light on the cornea is an accidental reflection.

      The results of these experiments confirmed the conclusions drawn from the previous ones, namely, that accommodation is due to a lengthening of the eyeball, and not to a change in the curvature of the lens. They also confirmed, in a striking manner, my earlier conclusions as to the conditions under which myopia and hypermetropia are produced.¹

      The images photographed from the front of the lens did not show any change in size or form during accommodation. The image on the back of the lens also remained unchanged, as observed through the telescope of the ophthalmometer; but as there is no dispute about its behavior during accommodation, it was not photographed. Images photographed from the iris before and during accommodation were also the same in size and form, as was to be expected from the character of the lens images. If the lens changed during accommodation, the iris, which rests upon it, would change also.

      Fig. 30. Images on the Side of the ScleraR, rest; A, accommodation. The image in A is the larger, indicating a flattening of the side of the sclera as the eyeball elongates. My, Myopia. The eye is straining to see at the distance and the image is larger, indicating that the eyeball has elongated, resulting in a flattening of the side of the sclera. Hy, Hypermetropia. The eye is straining to see at two inches. The image is the smallest of the series, indicating that the eyeball has become shorter than in any of the other pictures, and the side of the sclera more convex. The two lower pictures confirm the author's previous observations that farsight is produced when the eye strains to see near objects and nearsight when it strains to see distant objects.

      Fig. 31. Multiple Images Upon the Front of the LensThis picture illustrates one of the difficulties that had to be overcome in photographing images reflected from various parts of the eyeball. Unless the light was adjusted at precisely the right angle the filament was multiplied by reflection from the sides of the globe. Usually the image was doubled, sometimes it was tripled, as shown in the picture, and sometimes it was quadrupled. Often days of labor were required to eliminate these reflections, and for reasons that were not definitely determined the same adjustment did not always give the same results Sometimes all would go well for days, and then, without any apparent reason, the multiple images would return.

       The images photographed from the cornea and from the front and side of the sclera showed, however, a series of four well-marked changes, according to whether the vision was normal or accompanied by a strain. During accommodation the images from the cornea were smaller than when the eye was at rest, indicating elongation of the eyeball and a consequent increase in the convexity of the cornea. But when an unsuccessful effort was made to see at the near-point, the image became larger, indicating that the cornea had become less convex, a condition which one would expect when the optic axis was shortened, as in hypermetropia. When a strain was made to see at a distance the image was smaller than when the eye was at rest, again indicating elongation of the eyeball and increased convexity of the cornea.

      The images photographed from the front of the sclera showed the same series of changes as the corneal images, but those obtained from the side of the sclera were found to have changed in exactly the opposite manner, being larger where the former were smaller and vice versa, a difference which one would naturally expect from the fact that when the front of the sclera becomes more convex the sides must become flatter.

      Fig. 32. Reflection of the Electric Filament From the IrisThis picture is shown to illustrate the fact that it is possible to get a reflection from any reflecting surface of the eyeball without reflections from the other parts, although these may be exposed. This is done by changing the angle of the light to the eye. In No. 1 observations of the eye at the time the picture was taken demonstrated that the image was from the iris, not from the cornea, and the fact is also apparent in the picture. (Compare the image with the corneal reflection in Fig. 28.) In No. 2, where the image overlaps the margin of the pupil, the fact that the reflection is from the iris is manifest from the circumstance that only part of the filament is seen. If it were from the cornea, the whole of it would be reflected. Note in this picture that there is no reflection from the lens. The images on the iris did not change their size or shape during accommodation, demonstrating again that the lens, upon which the iris rests, does not change its shape when the eye adjusts itself for near vision.

       When an effort was made to see at a distance the image reflected from the side of the sclera was larger than the image obtained when the eye was at rest, indicating that this part of the sclera had become less convex or flatter, because of elongation of the eyeball. The image obtained during normal accommodation was also larger than when the eye was at rest, indicating again a flattening of the side of the sclera. The image obtained, however, when an effort was made to see near was much smaller than any of the other images, indicating that the sclera had become more convex at the side, a condition which one would expect when the eyeball was shortened, as in hypermetropia.

      The most pronounced of the changes were noted in the images reflected from the