Eye chart smaller towards the bottom of the chart. The person removes any glasses or contact lenses, and stands or sits a standardized distance from the chart (e.g., 20 feet for the Snellen chart). The person is then asked to identify the optotypes on the chart, starting with large rows and continuing to smaller rows until the optotypes cannot be reliably identified any more. The row in which the person can reliably identify symbols defines the visual acuity. One eye is tested at a time. Practically, this is accomplished by covering the other eye with a hand, piece of paper, or a
The Doctor Is Sick undergoing a battery of diagnostic tests, Mrs Spindrift amuses herself with some disreputable new friends at nearby pubs. Sometimes, to Edwin's distress, she sends these friends to keep her husband company during visiting hours, rather than come herself. Most of the novel is a dream sequence: while he is anaesthetised for brain surgery, Edwin's anxiety over his wife and the company she keeps turns into a fantasy in which Edwin leaves the hospital and encounters his wife's friends, with whom he has various adventures. Shortly before he wrote "The Doctor Is Sick" Burgess suffered an obscure mental breakdown that ended