It is no secret that in human physiology there are many oddities. And today, hardly anyone can surprise you with this. It would seem that not so long ago people gathered from all around to look at a man with a sixth finger on his hand. And it’s not surprising if you see such an “owner of an extra phalanx” these days, standing a few centimeters away from you, say, in the line for food.
Also not a surprise and a pair of Siamese twins. And even if they don’t wave to you from the stage, they simply pass by in everyday life. Due to the fact that they already froze all eyes on TV, this case will be ignored. Moreover, in a couple of hours no one will remember that just recently a couple of people who had grown together were walking past him.
But what if during a walk you catch the eyes of not two, but four pupils? And in one eyeball there will be two of them. A double pupil - this will become really curious, right?
Is it real?
Perhaps this phenomenon or not, disputes are ongoing. Modern medicine completely rejects such a fact as the disease "double pupil." Of course, it is possible that there are a lot of cases when the patient’s eyeball really looks like it has a pair of pupils. But most often it is either a violation in the retina, or the development of a parasite, etc.
However, this phenomenon of Pupula duplex (double pupil) is found in many sources both by ancient scientists and researchers of the last century.
First mention
Initially, this ailment was called the "devil's eye." These references can be found in the works of ancient writers. A striking example is the work of the ancient Roman poet Ovid, where the double pupil has a special place. Naturally, in olden times, such a phenomenon could cause nothing but horror in people.
However, among the owners of such eyes stand out very successful people. One of them is Liu Chun - the governor of the ancient Chinese city of Shanxi.
Mentioning Liu Chun in History
A long time ago, in 995 BC. e., in the city of China, Shanxi met Governor Liu Chun. He was later transferred to the post of Minister of State. This official received his fame due to two circumstances. First, he managed to make his son the heir of all of China, which served as his relationship with the widowed Empress. Second, Liu Chun had two pupils in each eye. And this moment nevertheless made the greatest contribution to his popularity. This is how the Chinese minister is depicted in the paintings, and this is how his wax figure, located in the London Ripley Museum, looks like. And most importantly, this is how he is captured in history - "A man with double eyes."
In addition to this case, a double eye was recorded in medicine in 1931. Someone Henry Hawn - a resident of Kentucky - had a double pupil. A photo that could confirm this phenomenon was never provided to the scientific committee, which left Mr. Hawn without due attention.
20th century research
The double pupil aroused considerable interest among scientists in the period from 1902 to 1918. It all started with the research of Kirby Smith, which was subsequently refuted by Walton Brooks McDaniel in his work, “Double Pupil and Other Devil Eye Expressions.”
In his work, Pupula Duplex Smith argues that this concept is symbolic, not medical. And the ancients emphasized the difference in the color of the eyes of a person (for example, the left is blue and the right is green). And this feature in modern science has such a name as heterochromia.
In a misunderstanding of the ancient authors of this phenomenon, McDaniel agrees with Smith. But, according to his version, people of those times simply called pupula duplex such phenomena as, for example, pupil dilation, retinal disorders and other eye defects. And undoubtedly, all of the above and the truth is able to create the illusion of a double pupil.
What do they say about this today?
If you ask a similar question to a modern ophthalmologist, then at best you can only hear laughter. Science has long denied the possibility of finding two pupils in one eye at once.
Nevertheless, in the history of medicine there really is one disease - polycoria. This is nothing more than the presence of two or more pupils sticking together.
In contrast to the first case (double pupil), polycoria disease is expressed in visual discomfort, worsening visual acuity. When it is characterized by a sluggish reaction to light in the visual organs. It is eliminated until preschool age exclusively by surgery. If this procedure was not done to the patient on time, then he is prescribed contact lenses. But all these measures are taken only for those who have more than three pupils. Also, an alarm can be that they are expanded to 2 millimeters.
Double Eyeball Myths
There are many different myths about the double pupil. The oldest of them is that the double eye is the mark of the devil. In the old days, such people were subjected to contempt and persecution.
There is also an opinion that this is a gift (these days they call it superpower). Allegedly, a person who has this eye feature is able to perceive the world around him more precisely, highlighting each of its elements, which makes him outstanding - a sort of superman. Something similar, some say about the disease "polycory". In their opinion, each pupil has a sphincter, which allows it to function identically with its neighbors. However, this is also a fallacy. Only one pupil in the eyeball with this disease is given a sphincter. And that one doesn’t function well.