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Did you ever open your eyes under water? If you did you noticed (unless you had a mask on) that everything was fuszy. What happens is that your eyes, which are made to function in air, don‘t work well in water. The human eye contains a focussing lens; over it is a thin sheet of transparent tissue . called the cornea. One of the functions of the cornea, in air, is to help focus the light that enters the eye. It helps out the lens. In water, however, this function is lost because the transmission of light through water is identical to its transmission through the cornea. As far as light transmission is concerned the cornea is just like the water itself and thus the lens part of the eye has to do 100 per cent of the focussing job. Since it isn‘t strong enough for this your vision goes blurry. Fish have the same problem in reverse. They see well enough in water, but not in air. In a fish the corâ€" nea acts simply as a transparent window; it does no focussing. The focussing, therefore, is done en tirely by the lens. But when you remove the fish from the water and the cornea too starts bending the light entering the fish‘s eye, there is an "overfocussing" effect, and blurred vision. Past research activities of Dr. Jacob Sivak, an optometry professor at the University of Waterloo, have confirmed these facts. He has studied the funcâ€" tioning of the human eye, of course, and has also done a considerable amount of work on the vision of fish ‘ . iz Have your RARNER Lately, however, he has been intrigued by those animals that must be able to see both in the air and under water. He and his associates, undergraduate students William Bobier and Susan Joe, along with Dr. Brian Levy, a clincial supervisor and graduate optometry student, have been studying the vision of diving ducks, penguins, dolphins and even polar bears. These animals spend part of their time above water and give indication they see very well in air. But they have to see well under water so they can catch their food. What Dr. Sivak and his coâ€"researchers have found, in many of these animals, is that they have much more focussing flexibility in the lenses of their eyes than do humans. The muscle that changes the lens focus is relatively much larger. ' ‘"‘The cormorant, for example, is one of the birds that pursues its food under water and we found it is able to compensate for enormous optical changes," he reports, ‘‘by adjusting the focussing mechanism." He has recently been studying fish eating ducks at a conservation area near Guelph. _ *‘We have developed techniques for studying these animals so we won‘t harm them in any way," heâ€"reâ€" ports. One outcome of this has been the developâ€" ment of a simple instrument for measuring the curâ€" vature of the cornea. Dr. Sivak has come across a number of unusual adaptations on the part of animals that need both airâ€"water vision. There is, he says, a species of fish in South Amerâ€" ica that swims along the surface of the water and that has evolved eyes divided into two sections each â€" the top half for vision in air and the bottom half for underwater vision. The curvature of the top half of the lens is different from that of the bottom half. Dr. Sivak says this animal is commonly called the "fourâ€"eyed fish.‘" He has also studied penguins which, he reports, have a very flat cornea, so that it does little focusâ€" sing either in land or water ; the lens does more. ‘:’Actually, my wife first noticed this one day when we were at a zoo together,"" he says. ‘"Since then I Landscapi 884â€"3622 for planting Reasonable rates call GARDEN ROTO UW prof f’sthdies az underwater vision â€" RR 1 STRATFORO ONT NGA 652 Horthern Zauchbec at COWEN‘S CAMPS WEEK â€" WEEKDAYS â€" WEEKENDS FOR INFORMATION CALL COWEN‘S AIR SERVICE PIKE â€" PICKEREL â€" TROUT â€" ETC. SPECIAL PACKAGE FOR PARTY OF 10 MERV COWEN AT have gone about stuilying their vision in zoos in Toâ€" ronto, Montreal and in Edinburgh, Scotland, and they do have very flat cornegs. One consequence of this is that the penguin‘s peripheral vision is not so good; you can walk right up to one from an angle and it doesn‘t seem to see you coming.‘"‘ For a time, Dr. Sivak investigated the possibility that birds have a ‘"nictating membrane‘‘ which helps underwater vision. This is sort of an extra eyelid â€" like a windshield washer. ‘‘We studied it but focussing doesn‘t seem to be part of its function,‘" he says. We no longer think it is a factor." _ > Another possible adaptation that interests him would be a tiny pupil that would produce a "pinâ€" hole" effect. The smaller the aperture, the larger the depth of focus can be. He suspects this may exâ€" plain, in part, why porpoises see well either in water or air. Dr. Sivak finds this research is contributing to our understanding as to how the eye has evolved. ‘"‘This, in turn, helps us understand some of our eye problems better,"‘ he feels, ‘"including the ocâ€" currence of preâ€"birth defects. In addition, there may be some direct applications relating to huâ€" ‘man vision under water, and of course the work may lead to the development of new instrumentation.‘"‘ SUPERIOR MEMORIALS PHONE 1â€"519â€"271â€"4881 HOME 1â€"519â€"475â€"4696 HAVE YOU DELAYED PURCHASING A MEMORIAL PHONE OR COME IN TODAY. WE CAN ASSIST YOU. 528 Victoria St. N., Kitchener (Beside Weston Bakeries) 745â€"6136 After hours 578â€"7154 Large Indoor Showrooms â€" which sweeps across something l ' PARKDALE PHARMACY Parkdale Plaza Waterlioo 884â€"3860 «CgroN BOARD CHILDREN Waterlao Chronicle, Wednesday, May 10, 1978 â€" A MUSICAL STORY OF SEE THE ... & GIANT ARK °e CHILDREN IN ANIMAL COSTUMES e DRAMA â€" e PRESENTED BY SONSHINE, a 765â€"voice children‘s choir. 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