2-2

I E S LIGHTING HANDBOOK
Seeing skills must be learned and therefore are not uniformly developed
in all individuals. Visual training in many instances is an un-co-ordinated
and forgotten phase of instruction in some other skill, and may exist only
in an unconscious trial and error process initiated during the development
of a related dexterity (of the fingers, for example). There are notable ex-
amples, however, of co-ordinated visual training.
Several successful programs were conducted on a very large scale during
World War II by the armed services. These prepared personnel for
assignments (as lookouts, photo interpreters, and so on) requiring the
highest possible development of certain visual skills.
In industry, special visual equipment, instruction, and practice is re-
quired in many operations, particularly in those involving inspection.
Educators have found that slow readers may sometimes improve both
speed and accuracy if given proper visual instruction.
Psychological considerations introduced during the learning period may
account, at least in part, for individual color preferences and the associa-
tion of certain colors with temperature levels.
The Structure of the Eye
The structure of the eye is often compared with that of a camera, as
in Fig. 2-1A.
-
The iris is an opaque fibrous membrane resting against the crystalline
lens. Reflexes in this membrane result in variations of the diameter (0.079
to 0.315 inch) of its central aperture, the pupil.
The attendant variations in area of the pupil (0.00465 to 0.0775 square
inch) provide compensation by factors between 1 and 1G for wide variations
in the brightness of the field of view. The pupil is similar in its function
to the aperture stops in a camera. Compensation for the extremely wide
range of brightness encountered in nature also involves the adaptation
process.
The ciliary muscles comprise the focusing mechanism of the eye. By
controlling the curvature of the crystalline lens,- they change the focal
length of the cornea-lens optical system to permit near vision.
In the relaxed state, the lens (with an equivalent focal length of 0.59
inch) forms on the fovea a sharp inverted image of objects at distances
between 20 feet and infinity located along or close to its optical axis. An
image about 0.03G inch high is formed of a man 100 feet away.
To focus on near objects (closer than 20 feet) the muscles must be
tensed.
The retina comprises millions of light-sensitive nerve endings distributed
throughout an almost transparent membrane about 0.0087 inch thick.
An enlarged and simplified cross section of these nerve endings is shown in
Fig. 2-lB.
The light-sensitive nerve endings of the retina have their counterpart in
tiny particles of photosensitive chemicals that give a photographic emul-
sion its image preserving ability. The size and the distribution of these