This visual error may be experimentally shown and explained. There is a kind of glass which at first sight appears dark blue or violet, but which really contains a great deal of red. Take an ordinary microscope lamp, having a metal or opaque chimney, and drill a circular hole in it, about 3 mm. in diameter. This opening should be just at the height of the flame; cover it over with a piece of ground glass and a piece of the red-blue glass. Thus will be formed a luminous point whose light is composed of red and blue, i.e., of colours far apart from each other in the spectrum.
Fig. 24.—Chromatic Aberration of Eye, showing the wave differences of the blue and red rays of light (Landolt).
If rays coming from this point enter the eye, the blue rays ([Fig. 24]), being more strongly reflected than the red, will come to a focus sooner than the latter. The red rays, on the contrary, will be brought to a focus later than the blue, while the latter, past their focus, are diverging. Let A B C D ([Fig. 24]) be the section of a pencil of rays given off from a red-blue point sufficiently distant so that these rays may be regarded as parallel. The focus of the blue is at b, that of the red at r.
An eye is adapted to the distance of the luminous point when the circle of diffusion, received upon the retina, is at its minimum. This is the case when the sentient layer of the retina lies between the two foci E. In this case the point will appear as a small circle, composed of the two colours, that is to say—violet. If the retina be in front of this point, at the focus of the blue rays for instance, the eye will perceive a blue point surrounded by a red circle, the latter being formed by the periphery of the luminous cone of red rays, which are focussed only after having passed the retina. The blue point will become a circle of diffusion larger in proportion as the retina is nearer the dioptric system, or as the focus for blue is farther behind it. But the blue circle will always be surrounded by a red ring. If, on the contrary, the retina is behind the focus for red, the blue cone will be greater in diameter than the red, and we shall have a red circle of diffusion, larger in proportion as the retina is farther from the focus, but always surrounded by a blue ring M. If the blue-red point is five metres, or more, distant, the emmetropic[7] eye will evidently see it more distinctly, i.e., as a small violet point; the hyperopic eye, whose retina is situated in front of the focus of its dioptric system, will see a blue circle, surrounded by red; the myopic eye, whose retina is behind its focus, will see a red circle, surrounded by blue. The size of these circles will be either larger or smaller when the principal focus of the eye is either in front of or behind the retina.[8]
The refractive surfaces of a perfectly formed eye are very like an ellipsoid of revolution with two axes, one of which, the major axis of the ellipse, is at the same time the optic axis and that of rotation; the other is perpendicular to it, and is equal in all meridians. Eyes, however, perfectly constructed are rarely met with. The curvature of the cornea is nearly always greater in one meridian than in another. Its surfaces then cannot be regarded as entirely belonging to an ellipsoid of revolution, since the solid figure, of which the former would constitute a part, has not only two axes, but three, and these unequal. This irregularity is not, however, always great enough to produce discomfort and it is therefore disregarded. But in other cases the difference of curvature in the different meridians of the eye attain to a higher degree, and vision falls far below the average.
Fig. 25.—Lines as seen by the Astigmatic.
The refractive anomaly alluded to is termed astigmatism (from the Greek, α privative, στιγμα, a point—inability to see a point). The way in which objects appear to such a person will mainly result from the way in which he sees a point. Take, for example, the vertical to be the most, and the horizontal to be the least, refractive meridian: place a vertical line ([Fig. 25], I) at a stated distance before the eye, and the line will appear elongated, owing to the diffusion image of each of the points composing it. It will also seem to be somewhat broadened, as at II. If the vertical meridian is adapted to the distance of the vertical, the line will appear very diffuse and broadened, as at III. All these little diffusion lines overlap each other, and give the line an elongated appearance. Hence a straight line is seen distinctly by an astigmatic eye only when the meridian to which it is perpendicular is perfectly adapted to its distance. A vertical line is seen distinctly when the horizontal meridian is adapted to its distance. It appears indistinct when its image is formed by the vertical meridian. The way in which an astigmatic person sees points and lines led to the discovery of this remarkable irregularity in the refraction of the eye. The late Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy, suffered for some years until, indeed, he discovered how it could be corrected. This anomaly of curvature of the refractive surfaces of the eye is now known to prevail largely among the more civilised races of mankind. It is, then, of very great importance when using high powers of the microscope. In most persons the visual power of both eyes is rarely quite equal; on the other hand, the mind exerts an important influence, dominates, as it were, the eye in the interpretation of visual sensations and images. An example of this is presented in Wheatstone’s pseudoscope, known to produce precisely the opposite effect of his stereoscope—conveys, in fact, the converse of relief produced by the latter and better known instrument.
Visual Judgment.—The apparent size of an object is determined by the magnitude of the image formed on the retina, and this is inversely proportional to the distance. Thus the size of an image on the retina of an object two inches long at a distance of a foot, is equal to the image of an object four inches long at a distance of two feet. An object can be seen if the visual angle subtended by it is not less than sixty seconds. This is equivalent to an image on the fovea centralis of the retina of about 4 µ[9] across, and which corresponds to the diameter of a cone: so that while we have had under consideration the optical and physical conditions of human vision, we have likewise taken a lesson on the action of lenses used in the construction of the microscope.