<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Dear Vision Community,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">I have a historical question about the blind spot. Abbot Edme Mariotte described it in the 1660s in France. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">E.G. Boring writes about the blind spot that “King Charles (died 1685) is said to have used it in jest with his courtiers to show them what they would look like when their heads were off.” Boring, E. G. (1950). A History of Experimental Psychology (2nd ed.). Appleton-Century Co. p102<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">He gives no source. The story is well-known and oft repeated, but does anyone know of any documentation anywhere near the 17<sup>th</sup> century?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Helmholtz actually brings Mariotte and Charles II face to face “The experiment aroused so much interest that he (Mariotte) performed it before King Charles II of England in 1668.” <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Helmholtz, H. v. (1924). Treatise on Physiological Optics (Southall, Trans.; Trans. from 3rd German ed. of 1909, ed.). The Optical Society of America., V2, p42<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">But this is unlikely. He probably never went to England. So, does anyone have insight into the origins of the stories about King Charles and the blindspot? Like George Washington and the cherry tree, it seems like the sort of story that is too good to be true but good enough to be invented.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Best</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 8pt; line-height: 18.4px; font-size: medium; font-family: Aptos, sans-serif;">Jeremy Wolfe</p><div>
<meta charset="UTF-8"><div>Jeremy M Wolfe, PhD <br>Professor of Ophthalmology & Radiology, <br>Harvard Medical School<br><br>Visual Attention Lab <br>Department of Surgery <br>Brigham & Women's Hospital<br><br>900 Commonwealth Ave<br>3rd Floor<br>Boston, 02215<br><br>Phone: 617-851-1166<br>Fax: 617-768-8816<br><br>Best email: jwolfe@bwh.harvard.edu<br>Backup: jeremywolfe0131@gmail.com<br>URL: search.bwh.harvard.edu<br><br></div>
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