ABSTRACT
In Dr. Reid’s Inquiry, he has introduced a discussion concerning the perception of visible figure, which has puzzled me since the first time (more than forty years ago) that I read his work. The discussion related to this question, ‘Whether there be any sensation proper to visible figure, by which it is suggested in vision?’ (Stewart 1854, 132, note 1) Stewart then recorded Reid’s conclusions on the subject: the eye might have
been so framed as to suggest visible figure without color; hence, there is no sensation proper to visible figure. Visible figure is suggested immediately by the impression upon the retina of which we are not conscious.
