Psychiatrists have struggled for generations to define schizophrenia and classify schizophrenics, but the disease has been almost as difficult to describe as to cure. Most of its symptoms appear in mind and behavior. Since 1908, however, scientists have known of a physical manifestation of the disease that seems to afflict not only schizophrenics but also their relatives. When patients try to watch a slowly swinging pendulum, their eyes cannot track the smooth motion. Ordinarily the eye is a remarkably smart instrument. A healthy person’s eyes stay locked on moving targets without the least
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