William Horatio Bates

“ Whatever the patient finds easiest to remember is the best to remember, because the memory can never be perfect unless it is easy.
When the memory of the period becomes habitual, it is not only not a burden, but is a great help to other mental processes. The mind, when it remembers one thing better than all other things, possesses central fixation, and its efficiency is thereby increased, just as the efficiency of the eye is increased by central fixation. ”

“ If good vision is obtained only after a second or two, it can always be demonstrated that the memory of the period is imperfect and the sight also.
The memory of a period is a test of relaxation. It is the evidence by which the patient knows that his eyes and mind are at rest. It may be compared to the steam-gauge of an engine, which has nothing to do with the machinery, but is of great importance in giving information as to the ability of the mechanism to do its work. When the period is black one knows that the engine of the eye is in good working order. ”

“ For most patients palming provides the most favorable conditions for the memory of black. When the strain to see is lessened by the exclusion of the light, the patient usually becomes able to remember a black object for a few seconds or longer, and this period of relaxation can be prolonged in one of two ways. Either the patient can open his eyes and look at a black object by central fixation at the distance at which it can be seen best, and at which the eyes are, therefore, most relaxed, or he can shift mentally from one black object to another, or from one part of a black object to another. ”

“ Black is, moreover, more readily available than any other color. There is nothing blacker than printer's ink, and that is practically ubiquitous. By means of the memory of black, therefore, it is possible to measure accurately one's own relaxation. If the color is remembered perfectly, one is perfectly relaxed. If it is remembered almost perfectly, one's relaxation is almost perfect. If it cannot be remembered at all, one has very little or no relaxation. ”

“ Although black is, as a rule, the best color to remember, some patients are bored or depressed by it, and prefer to remember white or some other color. A familiar object, or one with pleasant associations, is often easier to remember than one which has no particular interest. One patient was cured by the memory of a yellow buttercup, and another was able to remember the opal of her ring when she could not remember a period. ”

“ An absolutely perfect memory is very rare, so much so that it need hardly be taken into consideration; but a practically perfect memory, or what might be called normal, is attainable by every one under certain conditions. With such a memory of black, the retinoscope shows that all errors of refraction are corrected. If the memory is less than normal, the contrary will be the case. If it fluctuates, the shadow of the retinoscope will fluctuate. The testimony of the retinoscope is, in fact, more reliable than the statements of the patient. ”

“ That the color cannot be remembered perfectly when the eyes and mind are under a strain, the reader can easily demonstrate by trying to remember it when making a conscious effort to see - by staring, partly closing the eyes, frowning, etc - or while trying to see all the letters of a line equally well at one time. ”

“ Usually the degree of relaxation gained is markedly imperfect, and is, therefore, lost to a greater or less degree when the conditions are unfavorable, as when letters or objects are being regarded at unfavorable distances. So disturbing are the impressions of sight under these circumstances, that just as soon as details begin to come out at distances at which they have not previously been seen, the patient usually loses his relaxation, and with it the memory of the period. ”

“ When a period is remembered perfectly while a letter on the Snellen test card is being regarded, the letter improves, with or without the consciousness of the patient; because it is impossible to strain and relax at the same time, and if one relaxes sufficiently to remember the period, one must also relax sufficiently to see the letter, consciously or unconsciously. ”

“ The condition of mind in which a black period can be remembered cannot be attained by any sort of effort. The memory is not the cause of the relaxation, but must be preceded by it. It is obtained only during moments of relaxation, and retained only as long as the causes of strain are avoided ”

“ A third patient, with normal sight in the right eye and vision of one-tenth in the left, could remember a period twenty seconds with both eyes open, and only two seconds when the better eye was closed. In other words, if the right eye is better than the left, the memory is better when the right eye is open than when only the left eye is open, the difference being in exact proportion to the difference in the vision of the two eyes. ”

“ By these means, and perhaps also through other influences that are not clearly understood, most patients become able, sooner or later, to remember black for an indefinite length of time with their eyes closed and covered. ”

“ When the period fades, or is lost, one knows that it is out of order, until a cure is effected. Then one does not need a period, or any other aid to vision, just as the engineer does not need a steam-gauge when the engine is going properly. One patient who had gained telescopic and microscopic vision by the methods presented in this book said, in answer to an inquiry from some one interested in investigating the treatment of errors of refraction without glasses, that he had not only done nothing to prevent a relapse, but had even forgotten how he was cured. ”