lincoln in springfield
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03-30-2015, 08:01 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-30-2015 08:02 PM by LincolnToddFan.)
Post: #16
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RE: lincoln in springfield
(03-30-2015 03:56 AM)RJNorton Wrote:(03-29-2015 04:26 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: I remember reading it here, Roger: Roger I remember reading-I think it was Katherine Helm's biography? Where AL complimented his wife on the color of her dress because it looked like the blue of her eyes, and Mary joked that her efforts to teach her husband the difference in colors was finally bearing fruit. I believe her younger sister Emilie Helm was staying with them in Springfield at the time. Do you recall the incident in your reading? Anyway if AL did indeed have some form of color-blindness, Mary's comment makes sense. Also, Robert Todd Lincoln was afflicted with strabismus(cross eyes) in childhood, so he must have inherited the condition from his father. |
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03-31-2015, 03:24 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2015 03:26 AM by Eva Elisabeth.)
Post: #17
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RE: lincoln in springfield
Toia - Emilie Todd Helm recalled that Elizabeth Todd Edwards “had invited all of us to a supper party. Sister Mary had just finished a new dress, it was a white silk with blue brocaded flowers scattered over it in bunches and little garlands. When Mr. Lincoln came from his office Mary reminded him it was time to change for the party. He looked at her with a smile. ‘Fine feathers enough on you to make fine birds of both of us.’ Noticing her dress still further, he said, ‘Those posies on your dress are the color of your eyes.’ Mary dimpled with pleasure: ‘You see, Emilie, I am training my husband to see color. I do not think he knew pink from blue when I married him.’”
(Katherine Helm: "Mary Wife of Lincoln," pp. 108-111.) |
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03-31-2015, 04:07 AM
Post: #18
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RE: lincoln in springfield
Toia and Eva, kudos on your memories and with helping me kick-start mine. That's it!! Many thanks to both of you.
I did check Dr. Sotos' book yesterday, and unless I missed it, he does not mention color blindness (although several pages are indeed devoted to Lincoln's eyes/eyesight). |
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03-31-2015, 08:55 AM
Post: #19
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RE: lincoln in springfield
THAT'S it Eva....thank you!!!
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03-31-2015, 01:48 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2015 01:50 PM by Eva Elisabeth.)
Post: #20
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RE: lincoln in springfield
Just to add re: "Robert Todd Lincoln was afflicted with strabismus(cross eyes) in childhood, so he must have inherited the condition from his father" -
Strabismus can cause diplopia, and thus perhaps the following occurence: On June 8,1864, the day of his renomination, A. L. allegedly told Carpenter and Hay: " A very singular occurrence took place the day I was nominated at Chicago, four years ago, of which I am reminded to-night. In the afternoon of the day, return ing home from down town, I went upstairs to Mrs. Lincoln's reading-room. Feeling somewhat tired, I lay down upon a couch in the room, directly opposite a bureau, upon which was a looking-glass. As I reclined, my eyes fell upon the glass, and I saw distinctly two images of myself, exactly alike, except that one was a little paler than the other. I arose and lay down with the same result. It made me feel quite uncomfortable for a few minutes, but, some friends coming in, the matter passed from my mind. The next day while walking the street, I was suddenly reminded of the circumstance, and the disagreeable sensation produced by it returned. I had never seen anything of the kind before, and did not know what to make of it. I determined to go home and place myself in the same position, and, if the same effect was produced, I would make up my mind that it was the natural result of some refraction or optics, which I did not understand, and dismiss it. I tried the experiment with the same result; and, as I had said to myself, accounted for it on some principle unknown to me, and it ceased to trouble me. But the God who works through the laws of Nature might surely give a sign to me, if one of his chosen servants, even through the operation of a principle in optics." The Fehrenbachers give it a "C", however (please go to the next page on the link for the comments!) https://books.google.de/books?id=L1FyFWc...CBcQ6AEwBQ |
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03-31-2015, 02:02 PM
Post: #21
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RE: lincoln in springfield
Eva, regarding this episode, Dr. Sotos writes (in The Physical Lincoln):
"With the eyes so markedly misaligned, each eye would generate an image significantly different from its partner's. Normally the brain fuses the eyes' different images into one, but in this case the difference was probably too great to do so. As a result Lincoln saw two images. It is unclear why Lincoln experienced double vision on just these few occasions. His tiredness may have contributed: perhaps his brain found it too trying to fuse the different images from the eyes on that day. In technical terms, Lincoln had an intermittent vertical hypertropia of the left eye, which is a type of strabismus. His head tilt is known as a Bielschowsky tilt." |
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03-31-2015, 04:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 03-31-2015 04:47 PM by LincolnToddFan.)
Post: #22
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RE: lincoln in springfield
(03-31-2015 01:48 PM)Eva Elisabeth Wrote: Just to add re: "Robert Todd Lincoln was afflicted with strabismus(cross eyes) in childhood, so he must have inherited the condition from his father" - This incident is one of the many haunting ones in AL's life. In some versions of the story he called Mary into the room and she saw the same thing. They believed that it meant he would not complete a second term. |
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