Shifting, Picture Cards of the Ten Natural Eyesight Practices

[ClarkNight]

http://www.cleareyesight.info/naturalvis.../id17.html

SHIFTING AND SWINGING

Correct Appearance of Oppositional Movement

When the eye with normal vision regards a letter either at the near-point or at the distance, the letter may appear to pulsate, or move in various directions, from side to side, up and down, or obliquely. When it looks from one letter to another on the Snellen test card, or from one side of a letter to another, not only the letters, but the whole line of letters and the whole card, may appear to move from side to side. This apparent movement is due to the shifting of the eye, and is always in a direction contrary to its movement. If one looks at the top of a letter, the letter is below the line of vision, and therefore appears to move downward. If one looks at the bottom, the letter is above the line of vision and appears to move upward. If one looks to the left of the letter, it is to the right of the line of vision and appears to move to the right. If one looks to the right, it is to the left of the line of vision and appears to move to the left.
Persons with normal vision are rarely conscious of this illusion, and may have difficulty in demonstrating it; but in every case that has come under my observation they have always become able, in a longer or shorter time, to do so. When the sight is imperfect the letters may remain stationary, or even move in the same direction as the eye.
It is impossible for the eye to fix a point longer than a fraction of a second. If it tries to do so, it begins to strain and the vision is lowered. This can readily be demonstrated by trying to hold one part of a letter for an appreciable length of time. No matter how good the sight, it will begin to blur, or even disappear, very quickly, and sometimes the effort to hold it will produce pain. In the case of a few exceptional people a point may appear to be held for a considerable length of time; the subjects themselves may think that they are holding it; but this is only because the eye shifts unconsciously, the movements being so rapid that objects seem to be seen all alike simultaneously.
The shifting of the eye with normal vision is usually not conspicuous, but by direct examination with the opthalmoscope5 it can always be demonstrated. If one eye is examined with this instrument while the other is regarding a small area straight ahead, the eye being examined, which follows the movements of the other, is seen to move in various directions, from side to side, up and down, in an orbit which is usually variable. If the vision is normal, these movements are extremely rapid and unaccompanied by any appearance of effort. The shifting of the eye with imperfect sight, on the contrary, is slower, its excursions are wider, and -the movements are jerky and made with apparent effort.
It can also be demonstrated that the eye is capable of shifting with a rapidity which the ophthalmoscope cannot measure. (Saccadic movements) The normal eye can read fourteen letters on the bottom line of a Snellen test card, at a distance of ten or fifteen feet, in a dim light, so rapidly that they seem to be seen all at once. Yet it can be demonstrated that in order to recognize the letters under these conditions it is necessary to make about four shifts to each letter. At the near-point, even though one part of the letter is seen best, the rest may be seen well enough to be recognized; but at the distance it is impossible to recognize the letters unless one shifts from the top to the bottom and from side to side. One must also shift from one letter to another, making about seventy shifts in a fraction of a second.
A line of small letters on the Snellen test card may be less than a foot long by a quarter of an inch in height; and if it requires seventy shifts to a fraction of a second to see it apparently all at once, it must require many thousands to see an area of the size of the screen of a moving picture with all its detail of people, animals, houses, or trees, while to see sixteen such areas to a second, as is done in viewing moving pictures, must require a rapidity of shifting that can scarcely be realized. Yet it is admitted that the present rate of taking and projecting moving pictures is too slow. The results would be more satisfactory, authorities say, if the rate were raised to twenty, twenty-two or twenty-four a second. The human eye and mind are not only capable of this rapidity of action, and that without effort or strain, but it is only when the eye is able to shift thus rapidly that eye and mind are at rest, and the efficiency of both at their maximum. It is true that every motion of the eye produces an error of refraction; but when the movement is short, this is very slight, and usually the shifts are so rapid that the error does not last long enough to be detected by the retinoscope, its existence being demonstrable only by reducing the rapidity of the movements to less than four or five a second. The period during which the eye is at rest is much longer than that during which an error of refraction is produced. Hence, when the eye shifts normally no error of refraction is manifest. The more rapid the unconscious shifting of the eye, the better the vision; but if one tries to be conscious of a too rapid shift, a strain will be produced.
Perfect sight is impossible without continual shifting, and such shifting is a striking illustration of the mental control necessary for normal vision. It requires perfect mental control to think of thousands of things in a fraction of a second; and each point of fixation has to be thought of separately, because it is impossible to think of two things, or of two parts of one thing, perfectly at the same time. The eye with imperfect sight tries to accomplish the impossible by looking fixedly at one point for an appreciable length of time; that is, by staring. When it looks at a strange letter and does not see it, it keeps on looking at it in an effort to see it better. Such efforts always fail, and are an important factor in the production of imperfect sight.
+ One of the best methods of improving the sight, therefore, is to imitate consciously the unconscious shifting of normal vision, and to realize the apparent motion produced by such shifting. Whether one has imperfect or normal sight, conscious shifting and swinging are a great help and advantage to the eye; for not only may imperfect sight be improved in this way, but normal sight may be improved also.
Detailed instructions for improving the sight by this method will be given in my forthcoming book, The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment without Glasses.
Rapid and tiny shifts, the eyes ability to shift many times per fraction of a second are called Saccadic eye movements, vibrations.
The eye produces many different movements, high frequency…

SHIFTING

By W. H. Bates, M.D.

Shifting: The point regarded changes rapidly and continuously.

A man with imperfect sight, who had obtained normal vision by my method of treatment without glasses, called about five years later and announced that the cure had proved permanent. His vision was normal when each eye was tested at twenty feet with Snellen test cards which he had not seen before.
He was asked, “What cured you?”
“Shifting.” he answered.
All persons with imperfect sight make an effort to stare with their eyes immovable. The eyes have not the ability to keep stationary. To look intently at a point continuously is impossible, the eyes will move, the eyelids will blink, and the effort is accompanied by an imperfect vision of the point regarded. In many cases the effort to concentrate on a point often causes headache, pain in the eyes and fatigue.
All persons with normal eyes and normal sight do not concentrate or try to see by any effort. Their eyes are at rest, and, when the eyes are at rest, they are constantly moving. When the eyes move, one is able to imagine all stationary objects in turn to be moving in the direction opposite to the movement of the head and eyes. It is impossible to imagine with equal clearness a number of objects to be moving at the same time, and an effort to do so is a strain which impairs the vision, the memory, or the imagination. To try to do the impossible is a strain, which always lowers the mental efficiency. This fact should be emphasized.
Many patients have difficulty in imagining stationary objects to be moving opposite to the movements of the eyes or head. When riding in a fast moving train, and one regards the telegraph poles or other objects which are seen,—the near objects may appear to be moving opposite to the direction in which the train is moving, while more distant objects may appear to move in the same direction as the train.
The above facts may also be imagined when traveling in an automobile. The driver of the car and others occupying a front seat may imagine the road to be moving toward the moving car. When pain, fatigue or other symptoms are present it always means that the individual is consciously or unconsciously trying to imagine stationary objects are not moving. The effort is a strain.

Walking and Eye Movement, Oppositional Movement
When walking about a room, the head and eyes move in the same direction as the body moves, and the carpet and the furniture appear to move in the opposite direction. However, it can be demonstrated that when the head and eyes are moving forward they are also moving from side to side. Every time the right foot is placed forward the eyes move to the right, while stationary objects appear to move in the opposite direction,—to the left; when the left foot steps forward the whole body, including the eyes moves to the left, while stationary objects appear to move in the opposite direction,—to the right.
Patients with normal vision are able to imagine this movement more readily than those with imperfect sight. The head and eyes also move upwards and downwards as the foot is lifted and lowered. When you raise your foot to take a step, the eyes go up, and everything else that is stationary appears to go down. When you lower your foot or head, the eyes go down, and stationary objects appear to go up.
Shifting
Shifting when practiced with the best results is usually unconscious. Very few people with normal sight, which may be continuous for many years, ever notice that they are constantly shifting correctly. One may shift in a wrong way, strain the eyes, and fail to improve the vision. What is the right way? The right way to shift is to move the eyes from one point to another slowly, regularly, continuously, restfully, or easily without effort or without trying to see. The normal eye with normal sight has the habit of always moving or shifting, usually an unconscious habit. When, by practice, the eye with imperfect sight acquires the conscious habit of shifting, the habit may become unconscious. When the shifting is done properly, the memory, imagination, mental efficiency, and vision are improved until they become normal.
It often happens that when one consciously or intentionally shifts in the wrong way, a better knowledge of the right way to shift may be obtained. When the eyes are moved to the right, stationary objects should appear to move to the left; and, when the vision is good, all objects not regarded are seen less distinctly than those regarded. When the vision is imperfect, objects not observed may be seen better, or an effort is made to see them better than those directly observed. In fact, it is always true that in all cases of imperfect sight the eyes do not see best where they are looking, and central fixation is lost. To shift properly requires relaxation or rest. To shift improperly and lower the vision requires an effort. When one stares at a point, without blinking or shifting; fatigue, distress, or pain is felt. To continue to stare without shifting is hard work. To see imperfectly is difficult; and, when one regards letters which are blurred or not distinguishable either at the distance,—ten feet or further, or at a near point,—six inches or less, the strain on the eyes can be felt. Imperfect sight or a failure to see requires much trouble and hard work. This fact should be demonstrated repeatedly by the patient until thoroughly convinced that rest of the eyes, mind or body can only be obtained by shifting easily, continuously and without effort.
What is true of sight is also true of the memory and imagination. With the eyes closed, one can imagine that he is looking over the right shoulder for a moment and then shift the imaginary gaze over the left shoulder. By lightly touching the closed eyelids with the tips of the fingers he can feel the eyeballs moving from side to side when the shifting is done right. It can be done wrong when one, by an effort, imagines the eyeballs stationary under all conditions.
With the eyes closed, one can imagine alternately looking from one side of a letter to the other. When the imagination of the shifting is done right, the letter remembered is imagined to be moving from side to side. Two letters close together may be imagined or remembered clearly, provided one is imagined better than the other, or when the attention is shifted to each alternately without effort or strain.
Blinking
Blinking is necessary to maintain normal vision in the normal eye. When blinking is prevented, the eyes become tired and the vision very soon becomes worse. Some persons, without knowing it, will blink five times in one second as demonstrated by the camera. When regarding a large letter of a Snellen test card at twenty feet or one foot, while blinking consciously, the letter appears to move up while the eyelids close slowly, and to move downwards as the eyelids are slowly opened. This apparent movement is caused by shifting the eyes up and down while blinking. (Blinking causes the eyes to shift automatically.) Many patients are unable to shift their eyes a short distance with benefit. When blinking, they may fail to obtain relaxation, because they too often blink with an effort. It is possible for most patients to demonstrate that the shifting of the eyes up and down improves the vision, when blinking is done easily, without effort. Blinking is very important. It is not the brief periods of rest obtained from closing the eyes which helps the sight so much as the shifting or movements of the eyes. It should be repeatedly demonstrated that the eyes are only at rest when they are shifting.


STORIES FROM THE CLINIC

No. 70 - Christmas at the Clinic

By Emily C. Lierman

We had a lively time at the clinic last Christmas. Many poor souls were made happy at that time, because of the generous contributions received throughout the year for the clinic fund.
I still keep up the old custom of telling a Christmas story to my younger patients. Every time they come for treatment, I tell them to palm their eyes, and then I try to improve their memory and imagination, which always improves their sight. It is necessary to remind a child of pleasant things, and what is more wonderful to the child mind than a Christmas tree laden with toys and candies? While I am treating boys and girls at the age of twelve or older, I talk about ice skating or sleigh rides, hills of snow, the pure whiteness of the drifts, or I tell them to imagine they are making snow balls. This helps to improve their vision for the test card and relieves tension or pain. Young men and women who work in shops usually find it a benefit to imagine that objects about them are moving all day. I tell them to blink slowly, but constantly, and shift their eyes while blinking. This stops the stare which causes so much body fatigue. If I have had a hard day, treating the most difficult cases, I find it a great help to palm and remember some of my childhood days. I think back to the night before Christmas. Mothers will find it a great help in improving their own sight if they make a daily habit of spending ten or fifteen minutes with their children, palming and resting. Children can easily form mental pictures while palming, especially remembering the Christmas decorations in store windows, the funny mechanical toys, and animals that move about when they are wound up. Recalling or imagining such things, while their eyes are closed, helps to relieve the mind of school studies, which sometimes cause strain. Adults, especially mothers, listen to me while I am describing such things to the children in the clinic. When it comes time to treat the older patients, I find it quite easy to have them remember how surprised their children were on Christmas morning, when the tree and toys were discovered.
It was necessary to find out the ages of the children so that we could purchase suitable and useful gifts for them. There were sewing baskets for the older girls, and handkerchiefs, three in a box, for mothers and fathers. For the little girls, we had the dearest dollies, which we purchased at a reasonable price. Little boys received games and toys of all sorts, and enough money was given to a mother to buy a pair of baby shoes for her youngest.
One mother, who came quite regularly for several months before Christmas, was made very happy the day of our festival. She was invited to bring all of her children. There were seven and not one boy among them.
Dear old Pop from the Blind Men's Home of Brooklyn, was too feeble to be with us, but we remembered him just the same. Good smoking tobacco and some wearing apparel were sent to him and he was overjoyed.
While we were distributing the gifts, I suddenly remembered about the little rich boy who enjoyed a poor boy's gift the year before. There were a few toys left, and no more boys to receive them. The last little girl had received her doll and departed. There was one doll left behind. She was perched among the lower branches and looked rather lonesome. There was no one to claim her. I was rearranging the lights on the tree while all was quiet. When I turned away from the tree, I saw a little rich girl from the West, admiring the lonesome dollie. Dr. Bates also appeared on the scene, and when he nodded his head toward the little girl and then the doll, I understood what he meant. Both arms of the little girl reached out for a poor girl's gift. She held that dollie as though it were the only one in the world. I have learned so much about private and clinic patients, and I am glad to find that all boys and girls feel the same whether they are rich or poor.
Many thanks to my friends who make our clinic family happy at Christmas time.

BETTER EYESIGHT
A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF IMPERFECT SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES

MAY, 1929

Shifting

When the normal eye has normal sight it is at rest and when it is at rest it is always moving or shifting. Shifting may be done consciously with improvement in the vision, or it may be done unconsciously with impaired vision.

Shifting can be practiced correctly and incorrectly.

+A wrong way to shift is to turn the head to the right while the eyes are turned to the left, or to turn the head to the left while the eyes are turned to the right.

+Correct way = Eyes, head/face, body move together, synchronized, at the same time, in the same direction.

To improve imperfect sight by shifting, it is well to move the head and eyes so far away that the first letter or object imagined is too far away to be seen at all clearly. Shifting from small letters to large letters alternately may be a greater benefit than shifting from one small letter to another small letter. Quite frequently the vision is decidedly improved by shifting continuously from one side of a small letter to the other side, while the letter is imagined to be moving in the opposite direction. When the shifting is slow, short, and easy, the best results in the improvement in the vision are obtained.
The eye also moves quick, very fast (Saccadic) and this occurs automatically. Any attempt to stop the shifting always lowers the vision. The letter or other object which appeared to move is usually shifting a short distance – one half or one quarter of an inch. It is not possible to imagine any particular letter or other object stationary for a longer time than one minute.
Strain, blur begins when the eyes have not moved after a fraction of a second to one second.
While the patient is seated, benefit can be obtained from shifting, but even more benefit can be obtained when the shifting is practiced while the patient is standing and moving the head and shoulders, in fact the whole body, a very short distance from side to side. (The Sway, Rock) Shifting the whole body makes it easier to shift a short distance and may explain why this method is best.

It is easy to see letters on a eyechart clear when shifting easily on the letters while doing the sway a short distance left and right.
Blink, sway, relax.

Treatment

By W. H. Bates, M.D.


Vision is largely associated with the activity of the mind. The memory, imagination, must be nearly perfect for the vision to be nearly perfect. When the memory is imperfect, the imagination and sight are always imperfect. There are no exceptions.

In MYOPIA, or short sight, (unclear distant vision) the eyeball is elongated. Myopia can be produced by a stare, concentration, or an effort to see distant objects. When all objects are regarded with an effort to see more than two parts perfectly at the same time, myopia is always produced. (Shift from part to part, seeing one part at a time perfect, clearest produces clear vision) To do the wrong thing, a strain or effort is made. The greater the strain, the more imperfect becomes the vision. To do the wrong thing requires much trouble, hard work, and a useless effort. The production of myopia is not easy. Rather it is difficult. This truth, when demonstrated by the patient, is important. It demonstrates the cause of myopia and when the cause of myopia is known, treatment can usually be suggested which helps in the cure.
The production of improved or perfect sight is easy. Rest or the absence of strain is helpful in obtaining normal vision.
When the sight is normal, the eye is at rest. Any effort to improve the sight is wrong, always fails, and the vision soon becomes less. Perfect sight is easy and is not benefited by strong efforts to improve the sight. Myopia is cured by the efforts which are not made, rather than by strong efforts to see. Most people with myopia are not conscious of the stare, strain, or effort. Persons with normal sight are often able successfully to demonstrate the existence of strain in myopia and to suggest successful methods of treatment for the prevention of strain.
One method of treatment has been practiced consciously, continuously, and successfully, namely: “Make the sight worse by a strong effort to stare.” The imperfect sight of myopia does not come easily by staring. When it does come the patient feels a manifest strain in his head and all his nerves. By alternately producing the stare consciously and unconsciously he realizes the harm it can produce. He becomes acquainted with the stare. By practice, he becomes able to produce it to any extent and at all times.
Imperfect sight is difficult and normal or improved sight is easy and enables most people with myopia to obtain a cure in a very short time. It should be known that high degrees of myopia are not always easy to produce. It is a truth that quick cures of myopia can only be obtained by persons who have the ability to make the myopia worse.
Some statistics on the production of myopia in school children and others show that 10 percent of the population are myopic, 80 percent have imperfect sight from other causes, and 10 percent have normal sight. Some statistics state that 50 percent of the population of China and about the same percentage in Japan have acquired myopia by improper use of their eyes. What is improper use of the eyes, and what is known of the cause of myopia in these countries? They are a book-reading people to such a slight extent that we need not consider the use of books in the daily life of the Chinese. No one can say that the Chinese have acquired imperfect sight from reading. The characters of the books that they do possess are very large compared to our print and that used in other countries. Many writers have stated that fine print is a strain on the eyesight, and is the cause of myopia; the Chinese use very large print and there is no nation in the world that has so much myopia! Large print instead of being a rest to the eyes is a great strain.
Some years ago, a prominent ophthalmologist of Cleveland was told to introduce in the public schools books printed in very large type. After a short time, the teachers complained to the authorities that the large print hurt the eyes of the children and increased the production of myopia and made so much trouble that they requested that the new books be discarded and books with finer print be used again. This is offered as evidence that myopia does not result from the reading of fine print. Fine print, instead of being the cause of nearsightedness, is the best preventative that one can use. One should not stare at the letters of fine print, but rather, he should take a break and look at the white spaces between the lines, look to other objects, then, when the eyes are relaxed, look back to the fine print. Blink, relax, shift on/along the words or through the center of the words as the sentences are read. Look at the white spaces or distant objects to rest the eyes, then back to the print. In this way the print is seen without strain.
The Snellen test card can be used in various ways to improve the vision. The best distance of the card from the patient is variable. Some patients with a high degree of myopia will improve more when the card is read at a short distance, five feet or less. Other patients prefer to have the test card at a greater distance from their eyes and they improve their vision more when they practice with the card at a long distance off - twenty-five, thirty, or, forty feet. The optimum distance of the card from the patient is the distance at which the best results are obtained. To imagine the card to be moving, when held in front of the patient, who at the same time sways from side to side, is usually beneficial. After a little practice, when the patient sways from side to side, the card may be imagined to be moving about four to six inches from side to side. If the card seems to sway a very short distance or not at all, it usually means that the patient is staring, straining, or trying to see.
One should avoid looking directly at the Snellen test card, because then the movement of the card becomes uncertain or disappears altogether. A long movement of the card from side to side can be shortened with an improvement in the vision. When the patient stands with the feet about one foot apart and sways from side to side, without looking directly at the card, the letters may be seen to move in the same or in the opposite direction.
The correct result is for the letters to move opposite – ‘oppositional movement’. If a object is in front of the card, closer to you, the card, letters appear to move with, in the same direction as the eyes, head, body. The shorter the sway, the shorter the oppositional movement.
Sometimes practice with the card will be followed by double or multiple vision, due to the fact that the patient stares, strains, and makes an effort to see the letters. For example, one patient saw one line of letters multiplied two or three times. This would not have occurred if the patient had imagined the card moving slightly from side to side, and had not tried to see the letters. Palming, when practiced successfully, has relieved many cases of double vision. Some letters, objects appear double, triple as the blur and any underlying astigmatism is removed and the brain, eye muscles relax, left and right brain hemispheres work together, correct with eyes, eye muscles.
Some patients, when they palm, see flashes of light and all the colors of the spectrum, without at any time seeing black. It is strange to hear patients complain of the numerous objects they remember or imagine when they palm. Thinking of pleasant things has helped some people to palm more successfully. The memory of imperfect sight is a strain and should not be practiced when palming. The length of time that patients can palm with benefit is widely variable. Some patients have gone to sleep while palming and when they awakened in the morning they were still palming, with their hand covering their eyes, with the result that their vision was very much improved. Others obtain more benefit from palming for short periods of time at frequent intervals.

FUNDAMENTALS OF TREATMENT

By W. H. Bates, M. D.

ALL errors of refraction and many other eye troubles are cured by rest; but there are many ways of obtaining this rest, and all patients cannot do it in the same way. Sometimes a long succession of patients are helped by the same method, and then will come one who does not respond to it at all.
+Closing the Eyes.—The simplest way to rest the eyes is to close them for a longer or shorter period and think about something agreeable. This is always the first thing that I tell patients to do, and there are very few who are not benefited by it temporarily.

+Palming.—A still greater degree of rest can be obtained by closing and covering the eyes so as to exclude all the light. The mere exclusion of the impressions of sight is often sufficient to produce a large measure of relaxation. In other cases the strain is increased. As a rule, successful palming involves a knowledge of various other means of obtaining relaxation. The mere covering and closing of the eyes is useless unless at the same time mental rest is obtained. When a patient palms perfectly, he sees a field so black that it is impossible to remember, imagine, or see, anything blacker, and when able to do this he is cured. It should be borne in mind, however, that the patient's judgment of what is a perfect black is not to be depended upon.

+Central Fixation.—When the vision is normal the eye sees one part of everything it looks at best and every other part worse in proportion as it is removed from the point of maximum (central) vision. When the vision is imperfect it is invariably found that the eye is trying to see a considerable part of its field of vision equally well at one time. This is a great strain upon the eye and mind, as anyone whose sight is approximately normal can demonstrate by trying to see an appreciable area all alike at one time. At the near-point the attempt to see an area even a quarter of an inch in diameter in this way will produce discomfort and pain. Anything which rests the eye tends to restore the normal power of central fixation. It can also be regained by conscious practice, and this is sometimes the quickest and easiest way to improve the sight. When the patient becomes conscious that he sees one part of his field of vision better than the rest, it usually becomes possible for him to reduce the area seen best. If he looks from the bottom of the 200 letter to the top, for instance, and sees the part not directly regarded worse than the part fixed, he may become able to do the same with the next line of letters, and thus he may become able to go down the card until he can look from the top to the bottom of the letters on the bottom line and see the part not directly regarded worse. In that case he will be able to read the letters. On the principle that a burnt child dreads the fire, it is a great help to most patients to consciously increase the degree of their eccentric fixation. For when they have produced discomfort or pain by consciously trying to see a large letter, or a whole line of letters, all alike at one time, they unconsciously try to avoid the lower degree of eccentric fixation which has become habitual to them. Most patients, when they become able to reduce the area of their field of maximum vision, are conscious of a feeling of great relief in the eyes and head and even in the whole body. Since small objects cannot be seen without central fixation, the reading of fine print, when it can be done, (with relaxation, without effort, no squinting, strain) is one of the best of visual exercises, and the dimmer the light in which it can be read and the closer to the eye it can be held the better.
(Practice reading fine print in the sunlight for healthy eyes.)

+Shifting and Swinging.—The eye with normal vision never regards a point for more than a fraction of a second, but shifts rapidly from one part of its field to another, thus producing a slight apparent movement, or swing, of all objects regarded. The eye with imperfect sight always tries to hold its points of fixation, just as it tries to see with maximum vision a larger area than nature intended it to see. This habit can be corrected by consciously imitating the unconscious shifting of the normal eye and realizing the swing produced by this movement. At first a very long shift may be necessary, as from one end of a line of letters to another, in order to produce a swing; but sometimes even this is not sufficient. In such cases patients are asked to hold one hand before the face while moving the head and eyes rapidly from side to side, when they seldom fail to observe an apparent movement of the hand. Some patients are under such a strain, however, that it may be weeks before they are able to do this. After the apparent movement of the hand has been observed, patients become able to realize the swing resulting from slighter movements of the eye until they are able to look from one side to another of a letter of diamond type and observe that it seems to move in a direction contrary to the movement of the eye.
A mental picture of a letter can be observed to swing precisely as can a letter on the test card and, as a rule, mental shifting and swinging are easier at first than visual. The realization of the visual swing can, therefore, be cultivated by the aid of the mental swing. It is also an advantage to have the patient try to look continually at some letter, or part of a letter, and note that it quickly becomes blurred or disappears. When he thus demonstrates that staring lowers the vision he becomes better able to avoid it. When visual or mental swinging is successful, everything one thinks of appears to have a slight swing. This I have called the universal swing. Most patients get the universal swing very easily. Others have great difficulty. The latter class is hard to cure.

+Memory.—When the sight is normal the mind is always perfectly at rest, and when the memory is perfect the mind is also at rest. Therefore it is possible to improve the sight by the use of the memory. Anything the patient finds is agreeable to remember is a rest to the mind, but for purposes of practice a small black object, such as a period or a letter of diamond type, is usually most convenient. The most favorable condition for the exercise of the memory is, usually, with the eyes closed and covered, but by practice it becomes possible to remember equally well with the eyes open.
When patients are able, with their eyes closed and covered, to remember perfectly a letter of diamond type, it appears, just as it would if they were looking at it with the bodily eyes, to have a slight movement, while the openings appear whiter than the rest of the background. If they are not able to remember it, they are told to shift consciously from one side of the letter to another and to consciously imagine the opening whiter than the rest of the background. When they do this, the letter usually appears to move in a direction contrary to that of the imagined movement of the eye, and they are able to remember it indefinitely. If, on the contrary, they try to fix the attention on one part of the letter, or to think of two or more parts at one time, it soon disappears, demonstrating that it is impossible to think of one point continuously, or to think of two or more points perfectly at one time, just as it is impossible to look at a point continuously, or to see two points perfectly at the same time. Persons with no visual memory are always under a great strain and often suffer from pain and fatigue with no apparent cause. As soon as they become able to form mental pictures, either with the eyes closed or open, their pain and fatigue are relieved.

+Imagination.—Imagination is closely allied to memory, for we can imagine only as well as we remember, and in the treatment of imperfect sight the two can scarcely be separated. Vision is largely a matter of imagination and memory. And since both imagination and memory are impossible without perfect relaxation, the cultivation of these faculties not only improves the interpretation of the pictures on the retina but improves the pictures themselves. When you imagine that you see a letter on the test card, you actually do see it because it is impossible to relax and imagine the letter perfectly and, at the same time, strain and see it imperfectly. The following method of using the imagination has produced quick results in many cases: The patient is asked to look at the largest letter on the test card at the near point, and is usually able to observe that a small area, about a square inch, appears blacker than the rest, and that when the part of the letter seen worst is covered, part of the exposed area seems blacker than the remainder. When the part seen worst is again covered, the area at maximum blackness is still further reduced. When the part seen best has been reduced to about the size of a letter on the bottom line, the patient is asked to imagine that such a letter occupies this area and is blacker than the rest of the letter. Then he is asked to look at a letter on the bottom line and imagine that it is blacker than the largest letter. Many are able to do this and at once become able to see the letters on the bottom line.

+Flashing.—Since it is effort that spoils the sight, many persons with imperfect sight are able, after a period of rest, to look at an object for a fraction of a second. If the eyes are closed before the habit of strain reasserts itself, permanent relaxation is sometimes very quickly obtained. This practice I have called flashing, and many persons are helped by it who are unable to improve their sight by other means. The eyes are rested for a few minutes, by closing or palming, and then a letter on the test card, or a letter of diamond type, if the trouble is with near vision, is regarded for a fraction of a second. Then the eyes are immediately closed and the process repeated.

+Reading Familiar Letters.—The eye always strains to see unfamiliar objects, and is always relaxed to a greater or lesser degree by looking at familiar objects. Therefore, the reading every day of small familiar letters at the greatest distance at which they can be seen, is a rest to the eye and is sufficient to cure children under twelve who have not worn glasses as well as some older children and adults with minor defects of vision.
In the treatment of imperfect sight these fundamental principles are to a great extent interdependent. They cannot be separated as in the above article. It is impossible, for instance, to produce the illusion of a swing unless one possesses a certain degree of central fixation. That is, one must be able to shift from one point to another and see the point shifted from less distinctly than the one directly regarded. Successful palming is impossible without mental shifting and swinging and the use of the memory and imagination.