The visuals of poking underneith one’s eye with a blunt needle
Exploring the relation between the physical eye and the experience of vision, Isaac Newton conducted the following experiment on himself:
I tooke a bodkine gh & put it betwixt my eye & [the] bone as neare to [the] backside of my eye as I could: & pressing my eye [with the] end of it (soe as to make [the] curvature a, bcdef in my eye) there appeared severall white darke & coloured circles r, s, t, &c. Which circles were plainest when I continued to rub my eye [with the] point of [the] bodkine, but if I held my eye & [the] bodkin still, though I continued to presse my eye [with] it yet [the] circles would grow faint & often disappeare untill I removed [them] by moving my eye or [the] bodkin.
If [the] experiment were done in a light roome so [that] though my eyes were shut some light would get through their lidds There appeared a greate broade blewish darke circle outmost (as ts), & [within] that another light spot srs whose colour was much like [that] in [the] rest of [the] eye as at k. Within [which] spot appeared still another blew spot r espetially if I pressed my eye hard & [with] a small pointed bodkin. & outmost at vt appeared a verge of light.
The eye was not hurt. — By this experiment. He almost blinded himself on another.
Note to self: Memorize for future discussions of psychonautics!
Ooh that makes my stomach hurt. We have it so easy as philosophers. I propose a moratorium on smugness with regard to being brave bold and experimental. Just for a few weeks — until I can get this image out of my mind.
James
bootslack
29 Feb 08 at 9:16
Haha, great comment. But I actually think mindbending is the more dangerous game. (I wish I had some way to quantify the casualty rate of experimental philosophy compared to that of experimental science.)
Gorm
1 Mar 08 at 15:12
Wow, and I used to think I’d memorised Newton’s career, experiments and all…
Well, he was always the bold-experimental type. Didn’t Newton also dabble in alchemy?
I wonder what he thought of astrology in his day with regard to his experiments in this field, for the only thing an astrologer is capable of is predicting the past.
ilovemint
8 Jul 08 at 20:32