Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
(
1867
) where he abandoned his own hypothesis and immediately
accepted Maxwell's results and conclusions and, hence, the trichro-
matic colour theory.
Also, the dispute between the followers of Hering and Helmholtz
was soon settled in a fruitful and rational way by the assumption
that the Young-Maxwell-Helmholtz colour theory applied to early
phototransduction processing in the retina, while Hering's theory
applied to more central processing.
In fact, the hypothesis that the normal human retina contains
three different kinds of cone, each with a different photopigment that
absorbs light and, thereby, gives rise to a cascade of photochemical
processes in the receptors that triggers neural processes, which at
later stages in the visual pathway are transformed into opponent
processing, is today generally accepted as a fact.
Thus, although Popper and Kuhn may be right in that science
never will disclose the ultimate truth, scientific development entails
the promising possibility that a theory may become attached to an
increasing number of facts with increasing precision and ultimately
be regarded as a fact in itself with important theoretical and practical
implications.
