Influence of Incandescent and Coloured Light on Chicken Embryos during Incubation

Jensen and Matson 1 reported increased weight of the eye and flattening of the cornea (probably due to increased ultra-ocular pressure) in chicks exposed to continuous incandescent light. Histological studies of affected eyes, reported by Lauber et al. 2 , showed thinning of the retinal layers when chicks were subjected to continuous incandescent light. Shutze et al. 3 reported that hens reared under continuous incandescent light until 20 weeks of age showed a subsequent effect from continuous incandescent light which was manifest as depressed egg production and blindness. When silkworms were exposed to light at various stages of development, they either spun larger than normal quantities of silk or laid larger numbers of eggs (M. Kato, personal communication, 1961).