Fig. 23.—Images of an electric lamp Filament.
I thought that the observations might be rendered easier if the source of light had a more distinctive and conspicuous form than that of a simple circle. Some experiments were therefore made with semi-circular and triangular holes, and these were in some respects preferable; but far better results were afterwards obtained by using as a source of light the horse-shoe shaped filament of an electric lamp, screened by a coloured glass. When such a lamp was looked at through a lens, concave or convex, of about six inches focus, from a distance of a few feet, the roughly oval patch of luminosity formed upon the retina, instead of being a mere ill-defined blur, such as would be produced if the transparent media of the eye were composed of homogeneous substances like glass or water, appeared to be made up of a crowd of separate images of the filament, some being brighter than others, as is shown in the diagram [Fig. 23].
Fig. 24A.—Images with horizontal Slit.
Fig. 24B.—Images with vertical Slit.
If a spectroscope slit was interposed between the eye and the lens, and its width suitably adjusted, only a single row of filaments was observed, the appearances with the slit in horizontal, vertical, and intermediate positions being as represented in [Fig. 24, A], [B], [C]. As before, it was found possible by gradually retiring from the lamp to bring the number of images up to about twenty-five, but attentive examination showed that most of these really consisted of clusters, each composed of perhaps fifteen or twenty confused images of the filament. A stronger lens still further separated the constituents of the clusters, exhibiting a total number of indistinctly seen images which was estimated to amount to nearly five hundred. Assuming the diameter of the pupil of the eye to be one-fifth of an inch, these observations seem to indicate as a cause of the phenomenon some fairly regular anatomical structure, situated in or near the crystalline lens and composed of elements measuring about 1⁄2000 inch in length or breadth. Whether the structure which gives rise to these multiple images is to be found in the fibres of the crystalline lens itself, or in the membranes which cover it, is a question upon which I will not venture an opinion.