OPTIC NYSTAGMUS: TECHNICAL INTRODUCTION, WITH OBSERVATIONS IN A CASE WITH CENTRAL SCOTOMA IN THE RIGHT EYE AND EXTERNAL RECTUS PALSY IN THE LEFT EYE

Although the ocular nystagmus resulting from watching moving objects has been recognized for many years, it has not received the scientific attention comparable to the intensive investigation, both clinical and experimental, that has been accorded the nystagmus evoked by labyrinthine stimulation. Dodge¹ described photographic records of the eye movements evoked by a group of moving objects in 1903, and by a moving pendulum² in 1907. The latter type of visual stimulus was subsequently utilized by Diefendorf and Dodge³ in the study of the ocular reactions of patients with mental disease. Bárány⁴ was the first to study the nystagmus elicited by a succession of moving objects in connection with ocular palsies, soon followed by the work of Wirths.⁵ Coppez⁶ briefly described this type of eye movement in 1913, and in 1920, Bartels⁷ found that it occurred in reptiles and birds but stated that optical