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When the eye with normal sight looks at the large letters on the
Snellen test card, at any distance from twenty feet to six inches or
less, it sees, at the inner and outer edges and in the openings of the
round letters, a white more intense than the margin of the card.
Similarly, when such an eye reads fine print, the spaces between the
lines and the letters and the openings of the letters appear whiter
than the margin of the page, while streaks of an even more intense
white may be seen along the edges of the lines of letters. These
"halos" are sometimes seen so vividly that in order to convince people
they are illusions it is often necessary to cover the letters, when
they at once disappear. Patients with imperfect sight also see the
halos, though less perfectly, and when they understand that they are
imagined, they often become able to imagine them where they had not
been seen before, or to increase their vividness, in which case the
sight always improves. This can be done by imagining the appearances
first with the eyes closed, and then looking at the card, or at fine
print, and imagining them there. By alternating these two acts of
imagination the sight is often improved rapidly. It is best to begin
the practice at the point at which the halos are seen, or can be
imagined best. Nearsighted patients are usually able to see them at
the near-point, sometimes very vividly. Farsighted people may also see
them best at this point, although their sight for form may be best at
the distance.

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Better Eyesight
A monthly magazine devoted to the prevention and cure of imperfect
sight without glasses
Copyright, 1919, by the Central Fixation Publishing Company
Editor - W. H. Bates, M.D.
Publisher - Central Fixation Publishing Co.
$2.00 per year, 20 cents per copy
39-45 East 42nd Street, New York, N. Y.
Vol. II - February, 1920 - No. 2
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