MEASURING EYE JUMPS.

Cromwell Argus, Volume XXXVII, Issue 1984, 16 April 1906, Page 7

MEASURING EYE JUMPS.

I We know that an eye at ordinary reading distance takes in about lin. j of a line at a time, and that in read--1 ing a line of an ordinary book the eye makes five or six (more or less, j according to the length of the line) I distinct, jumps. But how many know 1 what direction the eye takes in mak- ■ ing these jumps ? And, as the movements are so very minute and rapid how have they been studied ? A very ingenious means has been employed as follows : A beam of light is thrown upon the corner of the eye under ex--1 animation, and this beam is reflected by the cornea on to a photographic plate. As the eye moves in reading, the reflected beam also moves, and upon developing the plate, which is \ also kept moving, a zigzag line is 'found. A study of such photographic tracings shows that the eyes, in : turning back to pick up the next line .have some difficulty in so doing. The longer the line of print the greater the effort, and for this reason we may, conclude that a narrow line is better for an eye than a long one, and if the line bp much longer than the ordinary newspaper column, there is greater effort involved.