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Quirks of Eyesight May Explain Disc Mystery By HOWARD AP Science Editor _ NEW YORK, July 6—(/P)—Certain laws of human eye- sight will explain much of what has been described about the flying saucers reported from nearly ail parts of the —— United ‘States. At any distance which is close to. the limit of how far a person can See, all objects appear round or nearly so, This law of sight covers both small things seen nearby and large ones at great distances, Regardless of shape, the ob- ject near the limit of sight looks round. If the thing js silhouetted against a bright sky, as some of |the flying saucers have been re- ported, then it is more likely to revfal its true shape. H4VE ‘NO STRUCTURE’ 'f the thing is seen by reflected light, as in most cases reported, it is almost certain to be round, and if the reflections are sunlight, then the sizes reported are those which would be expected from distant light reflections. The one outstanding fact about virtually all the saucers is that they had no structure — they seemed merely round and flat. |That description fits exactly with the tricks that eyes play. This |trickiness varies with differences in weather and lighting, This writer has seen flying saucers over Long Island Sound near his home, not only this year but in previous years. They were round, bright and moving fast. NOT A MYSTERY But they were no mystery be- cause they were light reflected from the bodies of airplanes that soon identified themselves by’ charging course and coming near enowgh to be seen distinctly. Last week this writer also saw one Joval flying form which for a moment looked exactly like the BLAKESLEE Photograph of the oval object. taken by Yeoman Frank Ryman north of Seattle, Wash. The Long Island oval came closer and turned into an airplane. Planes at great distances tend to look round when light is re- flected from their sides. Many descriptions of movements of the flying saucers fit with the com- mon maneuvers of airplanes, singly or in groups. They fit also with what birds look like, flying at a considerable distance. However the bird llu- sion is not very common. Shme of the maneuvering repojted, which took saucers out of dight and back into sight again re- sembles what can be seen while watching distance airplanes. SPEED MYSTERY There is no explanation for ré- ported speeds of 1,000 or more mjles an hour. Meteors, although they go much faster than that, do not explain it because the saucers mostly appear in daytime and there are not enough day- light meteors, Ice crystals forming little round clouds have been suggested. But these fail to fit in most cases be- cause the ice crystals form at altitudes which are higher than most of the saucers reported. Nothing published in science or atomic studies gives the slightest clue to flying sfucers unless the objects are aircraft. One scientist today said that at least a lot of saucers are ex-! plained by the force of suggestion’ which causes a person to say to| himself: eee *| “Oh, gee, I see it too.” ran) 24 3- RECORDED. j K 62~-§ aKG / Hf