John Kendrick Bangs (1862-1922) was a popular American author, editor and satirist. 'The Speck on the Lens' is the story of an occulist who is approached by an unusual character holding a strange tin box. He introduces himself as the inventor of a special telescopic device with very unusual properties...but it is accessible only to someone with a very unique type of eye. The oculist, he says, has this kind of eye. The doctor puts the device to his eye and is astounded by what he sees. But then he perceives a strange speck on the lens...and things take a weird turn....