- fortification of vauban
- Also known as fortification figure, fortification spectrum, flittering scotoma, geometrical spectrum, herringbone, Norman arch, scintillating scotoma, telehopsia, and teichopsia. The introduction of the eponym fortification of Vauban stems from the British neurologist Sir William Richard Gowers (1845-1915). Gowers introduced the term in honour of the French engineer Sébastien le Prestre Vauban (1633-1707), who was the first to describe the zigzag type of fortification wall as the most effective structure for the defence of fortresses. Today the term fortification of Vauban is used to denote a * geometric visual hallucination consisting of an extremely bright, sometimes coloured, zigzag line, or 'fortification wall', that may begin near the fovea in one hemifield, and then spread out towards the periphery of the same hemifield without touching the vertical meridian. For a further description of this phenomenon, see the entry Fortification spectrum.ReferencesGowers, W.R. (1895). Subjective visual sensations. Transactions of the Ophthalmological Society of the United Kingdom, 15, 1-38.Wilkinson, F. (2004). Auras and other hallucinations: Windows on the visual brain. Progress in Brain Research, 144, 305-320.
Dictionary of Hallucinations. J.D. Blom. 2010.