"FLYING SAUCERS" OVER SYDNEY

Chronicle (Levin), 9 July 1947, Page 5

"FLYING SAUCERS" OVER SYDNEY

Press Assn.'

SUPPORT FOR THEORY THAT THEY ARE AN 0PT1CAL ILLUS10N . ' .vx. .

By Telegraph

-Copyright

Received Wednesday, 11 a.m. SYDNEY, July 9. Though last night was cloudy over Sydney, people were reporting early this ' morning that they had seen "flying saucers" similar to those which had been reported all over the United States, Some were said to be shooting south at a terrific speed and others curving gently about the sky, AtTeast one was claimed to have fai'ien in the Sydney Harbour.

Independent opinions, both in America and Germany tend to supporo the theory of Professor F. S. Jotton, professor of physiology, that the saucers are really an optical illusion caused by red blood eorpuscles moving across the retina of the eye. The professor says the phenomeno'n has no connection with the | spoLs before the eyes seen by in- j toxicated people. One healthy | person might see them more readily than another, but that could not be- predicted in advance. Professor H. Tasman Lovell, former professor of psychology at Sydney University, agrees that the saucers are an illusion, but attributes them to mass suggestion. Thus he plaees them in the same class as the Loeh Ness Monster, Yengarie Lion and Grafton Crocodile. The phenomenon has drawn the usual light-hearted treatment from' practical jokers.

One man rang a newspaper office just to say: "If Professor Cotton's iheory is right, it's all my eye." Another telegraphed: "I can see nothing but flying beer glasses. Haye I got yeast in my eorpuscles?" Claims He Is The Inventor Mt- Eustace McGiil, of George Street, yisited the Sydney Sun office and claimed that there was no mystery about the "flying saucers" as he and a friend had ihvented them. The saucer, he explai'ned, is a four-bladed propeller with a ring around it which is driven by perpetual motion. At present he had only one machine, which was in pieces, but which wouid do about 40 miles an hour. He did not have enough wheels and ball-bearings to make a big one. His friend had taken the idea out of the country, leaving in a ship which went to Siberia or norihern Finland. The Sun published a picture of Mr. McGiil holding a model, which appears' to owe something at least to Meccano.