Eyes for art.

Far from being a pathology, the eye cast noted in "Rembrandt's eye saw no depth" (SN: 9/25/04, p. 205) is exactly what one would expect for a right-eye-dominant artist. A dominant eye would see itself directly in a mirror but would observe the other eye looking at an angle away from the median. Before concluding that Rembrandt had an anomalous visual condition, it would be important to apply the same investigations to contemporary artists who employed similar techniques for self-portraits.

DEMI MILLER, ST. PAUL, MINN.

Any artist painting his own face with precision will faithfully render the dominant eye staring directly at him and the other, slightly off. The Boston researchers painstaking measurement efforts should rather be seen as a measure of Rembrandt's amazing level of precision.

J. BERGERON, MONTREAL, QUEBEC

The conclusion that Rembrandt had strabismus is interesting. But to then jump to the conclusion that he had no depth perception is not justified. The brain's interpretation of the angles of the individual eyes while focusing on near objects is only one of the inputs used for depth perception. Just ask any of the millions of us one-eyed individuals who have learned to use the multitude of nonbinocular clues for depth perception.

RICHARD S. MCINTOSH, BERKELEY, CALIF.