The New-Age ‘science’ of reading eyes doesn’t work—but there may be a speck of truth in it.

Iridology was developed by the Hungarian Ignatz von Peczely, who at the age of ten had the bad—or good—luck to accidentally break an owl’s leg. What happened then is told with many small variations, but here is the version given on the website of The Canadian Institute of Iridology : “… the two glared into each other’s eyes and he noticed a black streak instantaneously appear at 6 o’clock in the owl’s iris. He nursed the owl back to health and observed that the streak had changed over time to a crooked white line. When von Peczely became a doctor, he remembered this incident while examining a patient with a broken leg. To his amazement, Dr. von Peczely saw the same crooked white line at 6 o’clock in this patient’s iris … he realized [it was] an indication of scar tissue in the leg.”

Dr. von Peczely went on to chart the correspondence he saw between each organ of the body to a particular location on each iris. The iris is mapped as if it were a clock. Diagnosis is made simply from the texture of the iris and the location of pigment flecks in the eye. Problems with the thyroid gland, for example, should show up in the iris of the right eye at 2:30, and the iris of the left eye at 9:30.

Does a PhD study conducted in Sweden, claiming to definitely link the appearance of the iris of the eye to certain personality traits, provide a scientific basis for the tenets of Iridology? The study, led by postgraduate student Mats Larrson, examined the irises of 428 people who had already provided personality data about themselves through a personality inventory. (You may read about the study in detail at www.oru.se/templates/oruExt Normal_24994.aspx .) The conclusion was that people with more “crypts”, or pits, in their irises tended be warm, sympathetic and trusting. People with more “contraction furrows”, or lines curving around the pupil’s outer edge, rated themselves as more impulsive and neurotic, and likely to give in to cravings. Pigment dots, on the other hand, were not found to be linked to any personality traits. This is reassuring, I think, because it proves the researchers’ bias was not completely controlling their reading of the evidence.

At first glance, this claim brings to mind the pseudoscience of phrenology (now no longer rearing its ugly head). Phrenology claimed the pattern of bumps on the skull revealed an individual’s personality. It has become a historical joke. The practice of iridology, however, is alive and well. You may visit an iridologist today if you like; there are several practising in every major city in Canada. The Canadian Institute of Iridology, based in Toronto, will give you the opportunity to become a Registered Iridologist entirely by correspondence. Think about that for a while, but not for too long. The good part of visiting an iridologist is that there is no need to change into one of those embarrassing paper gowns. The bad part is iridology doesn’t work. Tests repeated in various countries over the years have proven that iridologists cannot correctly identify the sick from the well simply by looking at pictures of irises—and often even disagreed with each other’s diagnoses.

In any case, how could iridology work? According to Dr. Steven Novella, the author of an excellent skeptical website, NeuroLogica Blog (www.theness.com/neurologicablog) there is no known pathway through which any organ in the body can express its aches and pains (or joys and thrills) to a specific location in the iris.

Which brings us back to the question: can the iris reveal personality traits? Dr. Novella thinks it is quite possible. He explains that the PAX6 gene, (at the centre of Larsson’s study), is known to control the development of the iris, and also plays a role in the development of the frontal lobes of the brain. A correlation between the iris and personality could exist.

That large bump over your right ear doesn’t prove you are greedy, and that black spot at 3 o’clock in your right iris is probably a flake of mascara, rather than a sign of kidney disease, but if you often find yourself craving excitement and impulsively driving to the casino in the middle of the night, you might want to take a good look in the mirror.