John Dalton who discovered color blindness, believed that in his eyes there is a blue Colour filter

English scientist John Dalton (1766-1844) remembered us mainly for its discoveries in physics and chemistry, as well as the first description of a congenital lack of view - color blindness, which disrupted recognition at the flowers. < br />
Sam Dalton noted that suffer from this drawback, only after how in 1790, became interested in botany and found it difficult to understand the botanical monographs and determinants. When the text dealt with the white or yellow flowers, he felt no difficulty, but if the flowers are described as purple, pink or dark red, they all seemed indistinguishable Dalton from the blue. Often, identifying the plant, as described in the book, scientists had to ask somebody: it is blue or pink flower? Surrounding thought he was joking. Dalton knew only his brother, who had the same hereditary defect.

Sam Dalton, comparing their color perception with a vision of flowers friends and acquaintances, decided that in his eyes there is some kind of a blue filter. And bequeathed to his laboratory assistant after his death to extract his eyes and check to see if painted in a bluish color of the so-called vitreous humor - jelly mass that fills the eyeball?

Laboratory scientist, and fulfilled the will not find in his eyes, nothing special. He suggested that Dalton may have been something wrong with the optic nerves.

Dalton's eyes were kept in Bank of alcohol in the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, and in our time, in 1995, geneticists identified and examined the DNA of the retina. As expected, it showed the genes of color blindness.

Source: www.nkj.ru

via factroom.ru