Letters on Natural Magic; Addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Bart.Brewster, David
History
Letters on Natural Magic; Addressed to Sir Walter Scott, Bart.
Brewster, David
Scientific recreations
Some eyes are more susceptible than others of these spectral
impressions, and Mr. Boyle mentions an individual who continued for
years to see the spectre of the sun when he looked upon bright objects.
This fact appeared to Locke so interesting and inexplicable, that he
consulted Sir Isaac Newton respecting its cause, and drew from him the
following interesting account of a similar effect upon himself:--“The
observation you mention in Mr. Boyle’s book of colours, I once made
upon myself with the hazard of my eyes. The manner was this: I looked
a very little while upon the sun in the looking-glass with my right
eye, and then turned my eyes into a dark corner of my chamber, and
winked, to observe the impression made, and the circles of colours
which encompassed it, and how they decayed by degrees, and at last
vanished. This I repeated a second and a third time. At the third time,
when the phantasm of light and colours about it were almost vanished,
intending my fancy upon them to see their last appearance, I found, to
my amazement, that they began to return, and by little and little to
become as lively and vivid as when I had newly looked upon the sun.
But when I ceased to intend my face upon them, they vanished again.
After this I found that as often as I went into the dark, and intended
my mind upon them, as when a man looks earnestly to see anything which
is difficult to be seen, I could make the phantasm return without
looking any more upon the sun; and the oftener I made it return, the
more easily I could make it return again. And at length, by repeating
this without looking any more upon the sun, I made such an impression
on my eye, that, if I looked upon the clouds, or a book, or any bright
object, I saw upon it a round bright spot of light like the sun, and,
which is still stranger, though I looked upon the sun with my right eye
only, and not with my left, yet my fancy began to make an impression
upon my left eye as well as upon my right. For if I shut my right eye,
and looked upon a book or the clouds with my left eye, I could see the
spectrum of the sun almost as plain as with my right eye, if I did
but intend my fancy a little while upon it: for at first, if I shut
my right eye, and looked with my left, the spectrum of the sun did
not appear till I intended my fancy upon it; but by repeating, this
appeared every time more easily. And now in a few hours’ time I had
brought my eyes to such a pass, that I could look upon no bright object
with either eye but I saw the sun before me, so that I durst neither
write nor read; but to recover the use of my eyes, shut myself up in
my chamber, made dark, for three days together, and used all means
in my power to direct my imagination from the sun. For if I thought
upon him, I presently saw his picture, though I was in the dark. But
by keeping in the dark; and employing my mind about other things, I
began, in three or four days, to have more use of my eyes again; and
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account