Reinvention of visual fatigue: accumulation of scientific knowledge or neglect of scientific history?

Abstract

The development of science is believed to be a continuous accumulation of knowledge, giving rise to the somewhat false idea that the most recent knowledge is the most valid and most appropriate. Neglect of the history of a scientific discipline might therefore lead to reinvention of theories that have already been proposed and experimentally investigated. In the case of visual fatigue the pioneering works of Lucien Howe, Walter Lancaster and others at the beginning of this century are very similar to contemporary work in terms of conceptual definitions, methodological approach, assessment and results. The temporal and dynamic aspects of accommodation and vergence considered important today were intensely studied and discussed by Howe and others.