What is "optography"

Optography \Op*tog"ra*phy\, n. [Optic + -graphy.] (Physiol.) The production of an optogram on the retina by the photochemical action of light on the visual purple; the fixation of an image in the eye. The object so photographed shows white on a purple or red background. See Visual purple, under Visual.

n. The production of an optogram on the retina by the photochemical action of light on the visual purple; the fixation of an image in the eye.

Optography is the process of viewing or retrieving an optogram, an image on the retina of the eye. A belief that the eye "recorded" the last image seen before death was widespread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and was a frequent plot device in fiction of the time, to the extent that police photographed the victims' eyes in several real-life murder investigations, in case the theory was true. Although repeatedly debunked as a forensic method, there is a scientific basis behind the idea.