Abstract
Note on Recurrent Vision*
IN the course of some experiments with a new double plate Holtz machine, belonging to the college, I have come upon a very curious phenomenon, which I do not remember ever to have seen noticed. The machine gives easily intense Leyden jar sparks from seven to nine inches in length, and of most dazzling brilliance. When, in a darkened room, the eye is screened from the direct light of the spark, the illumination produced is sufficient to render everything in the apartment perfectly visible; and what is remarkable, every conspicuous object is seen twice at least, with an interval of a trifle less than one quarter of a second-the first time vividly, the second time faintly; often it is seen a third, and sometimes, but only with great difficulty, even a fourth time. The appearance is precisely as if the object had been suddenly illuminated by a light at first bright, but rapidly fading to extinction, and as if, while the illumination lasted, the observer were winking as fast as possible.
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Physiology . Nature 5, 512 (1872). https://doi.org/10.1038/005512a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/005512a0