WHY YOU “ SEE STARS.”

Lake County Press, Issue 2051, 19 January 1905, Page 2

WHY YOU “ SEE STARS.”

The man w’ho, when struck violently on the head, says he “saw' stars” is not far from telling the truth. The fact is that there is a phosphorescent power of the eye which does not attract a person’s attention under ordinary conditions, but which is distributed, and reveals itself whenever the head gets a sudden shock, and sometimes even in the act of sneezing. A blow on the head results in the pressure cf blood vessels upon the retina, causing either total darkness or a faint blue light which floats before the eyes, and it is in this faint blue light the imagination discerns the thousands of fantastic forms and figures that by general acceptation are termed stars. Hence, while the astronomical display so frequently mentioned may be said to be entirely the creature of the imagination, there is at least some foundation for the idea. The true nature of the sensation is never very apparent, even to the victim, for the simple reason that it is invariably experienced under circumstances which render a searching introspective investigation out of the question.