Abstract
Iisr the Klinische Wochenschrift for November 3, Dr. Arnold Berliner, editor of Die Naturwissenschaften, has advocated the use of a red filter for improving vision when the media of the eye are hazy, as from vitreous opacities, incipient cataract, etc., since in such media light of short wave-length is scattered more than that of longer wave-length. The theoretical validity of this physical argument is undoubted, but physiological considerations render it doubtful whether much advantage would accrue. It is interesting to note that somewhat similar improvement of vision has been predicted for a glass of very different transmission characteristics by Dr. Bireh-Hirschfeld (Z. Augenheilkunde, 77; 1932) and Dr. Danmeyer (Hansa Deutsche Schiffarts-Z., December 1933). This ‘neophan’ or ‘neodym’ glass contains neodymium, and is slightly blue-violet in colour. It will be remembered that Sir William Crookes made and investigated the light transmission of such a glass, which differs little from that of the ‘Crooke's glass now on the market, though it apparently has a rather more pronounced absorption band between 550 and 650. It is held that the diminution of the yellow reduces the dazzling effect upon the retina. Prof. H. Hartridge, however, has given good reasons for thinking that these rays of highest luminosity in the spectrum are those most important for accurate discrimination of the retinal diffusion image with incident white light.
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Suggested Use of Red Filters for Improving Vision. Nature 134, 1000 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/1341000a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1341000a0