Chemistry of Visual Processes

Abstract

SINCE rhodopsin (visual purple) was first described in 1876 by F. Boll¹, much evidence concerning its chemical nature and physiological properties has accumulated. Relatively few attempts have been made, however, to devise theories embracing all the facts ; the contributions of G. Wald², R. J. Lythgoe and his colleagues³ and R. Granit and his co-workers⁴ being outstanding. The objects of the present article are to describe experiments which seem to reconcile divergent findings, as between Wald and Lythgoe, and to provide a basis for discussing in chemical terms Granit‘s discoveries, concerning the electro-physiology of retinal elements.