Abstract
BEING driven past a row of trees, I noticed that their intermittent shadow on the closed eye–lids gave rise to a vivid chessboard pattern of red and black squares arranged horizontally and vertically. These were perfectly regular, each being equal to about one-twelfth of an inch at ten inches distance. Waving the open fingers in front of the closed eye-lids exposed to the sun gave the pattern fairly well, but better by flashing the sun's rays across the lids by means of a vibrating hand–mirror. I see about seven or eight squares each way, the outer ones not well defined; but a younger man, who was not told what to expect, described them as more numerous.
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SMEATON, T. Optical Experiment. Nature 59, 487 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/059487c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/059487c0
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