Editorial December 10, 1966 Issue

Correcting the Illusions of the Senses

Carl J. Welz

The other day as I opened a letter from a friend, a piece of black celluloid fell out. It was neatly mounted in a paper frame so that I could hold it up to my eyes and look through it. But when I looked, I could see nothing.

This was a safety filter for looking at the sun. The explanation that came with it said that the sun seen by itself does not really appear larger at sunset than it does at noontime. Sure enough, when I looked at the setting sun through the smoked celluloid, I could not see the trees and the hills and the housetops which the eye usually compares with the sun at that time. I could see only the sun, and it appeared to be the same size as when I had looked at it through the filter at midday.

The same is true of the moon. It is not magnified when it first appears. It only seems to be because the physical senses, which are actually mental, compare it with other objects.

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