Litchfield enquirer., 1874-11-12
Short-sightedness and Contagious
 Diseases of the Eye.

Short-StghtedneSS and Contagious Diseases of the Eye.
 Professor Edward Carty, Of the College
 of Physicians and Surgeons, recently sub-
 mitted to the Board of Health a paper
 which deserves greater publicity than the l City Record, in which 1t is printed, can give 1t. It treats of contagious diseases
 of the eye and of progressive short-slght-
 edness. and contains suggestions for the detection and prevention of these mala-
 dies among the inmates of our public
 schools and asylums for children.
 1 Professor Carty considers the subject in
 respect to the two classes of which all
 communities are composed. the rich and
 the poor, the line being drawn between
 persons who live ln tenement houses and
 those who do not. These diseases, he
 says, appear among the lower classes
 most frequently in the various forms of l ophthamalia and ''granular lids The
 cause of their greater prevalence among
 the poor IS two fold-first. defective hy- giene, and second, direct contagion
 In respect to the first cause, it cannot
 be entirely removed. In large cities there
 always will be a great multitude of per sons who maintain precarious existence AANC ab HI IS t!lG LL0 WOuuGr
 rather than that they do not live in com
 modious clean, well-warmed andwell-yen- tilated rooms. That they keep from star vation is often more remarkable than that they cannot obtain sufficient amount of 1 wholesome food. This class is, moreover. very prolific. A tenement house pupula- ton fairly swarm. So far, therefore, as
 these conditions of life produce affections
 ot the eye among young children, the
 most that benevolent science can do is to interfere for the recovery rather than for the prevention.
 In respect to the second cause-direct contagion-Professor Carty points out the
 fact that our public schools and other
 public establishments for children consti-
 tute ready means for the spread of these
 diseases. and he therefore suggests that a system of medical inspection should be
 instituted aid enforced ln all public lnsti-
 tutlons occupied exclusively or in large
 part by children, to the end that this
 cause may be removed. The Board of
 Health possesses ample authority for set
 t1ng up such system, which, properly enforced by physicians competent to de- tect the presence of these diseases before they manifest themselves openly, would no doubt preserve to the state many self supporting citizens, who, as Professor Cary says, ''would otherwise grow up to be burdens on their relatives, or actual paupers to be supported by the taxpay- CTS.
 Aside from the danger of catching cer- tam diseases of the eye, to which 1t ap- pears that all children are subjected who attend the public schools, there Is a spec lal malady which Is to be found most ire quently among the children of the better classes. This is hort-sigktedness or my opia In it's severe form. Professor Carty says that this disease may also be proven sed in a large degree by proper sanitary regulations, and in respect to its progress sive character he adds:
 '"The condition of near sight is in a large proportion of cases concomitant of an actual disease of the deeper parts of the eye; and though in its slighter de- grees 1t is comparatively innocent affec- tion-the error of sight being renedied by glasses; yet when beginning in child 9ood aud allowed to r1H nncheekea. fhe olsease too readily assumes a severe type producing not only an extreme degree of near-sightedness, but permanently impa1r- ing the eyesight in addition, Persons so affected are often unable to perform any kind of skilled labor requiring accurate eyeslGht, and such eyes are always in 2 dangerously susceptible state, being prone to the development of other dis eases which often destroy what remnants of useful sight are left by the original af-
 The determining cause of this "pro- gresslve myopia" is, in some way or oth- CT, an excessive use by children of their eyes. If their eyes are used habitually for long periods the ini iury IS the same as when they are used for shorter periods, but under unfavorable conditions. When. however. the long periods of employment and the unfavorable conditions are unit ed, the eyes of the child are very sure to be lrretrlevably weakened and often spoil ed Professor Carty says that most Of the conditions necessary to the proluc- ton ot short-sightedness are to be found m our public achool-rooms. These con- dltlons may be summed up as insufficient light, fine type, and desks or tables so constructed as to lead the child to take a stooplng position, thereby creating the habit of bringing the eye unnecessarily near the object to be seen.
 A single practical suggt stion is made on this branch of the subject. Professor Carsy cites the example of the Prussian government, which, finding that the num- Der of It's subjects available ff0r military service was largely diminished through the extensive prevalence of near-sighted- ness, undertook to extirpate the disease by thorough reconstruction of the pub Ic schooi-houses of that country, not of course with perfect success, but with the result of preserving the natural eyesight of many of it's citizens; and suggests that something of the same kind ought to be done m this country. In the mean time ne would have the system of medical in- spectlon which he recommends made to include special test for the existence of near-slghtedness in any form, with view, nrst, to take such measures as the present character Of our school rooms permits to prevent the disease from assuming more fixed and dangerous phase, and, second, to obtain statistics from which sound generalizations may be drawn as to the best methods of constructing public school buildings.
 On general principles we are opposed to the formation of new boards of officers for any purpose. This, however. is an ex- ception to the rule. While seeking to ed- ucate our children we ought to be careful not to ruin their bodies. We do not need the word of any professor ta inform US of the existence and increase of physical near-sighted2sss in this community. Eve glasses of some kind are to be seen in use on almost every nose. Especially is this ! true among the young. Many grandfa- thers ID this city possess better eyesight 1 than their grandchildren. The causes 1 may be various. The multiplication of | books and newspapers printed in fine type; the habit of reading on the horse cars or | in the stage-coaches; the excessive tasks to which we set our eyes Tn the endeavor to get on in life; the heedlessness as to | the use of aids to vision before they are absolutely necessagy-an no doubt in- crease the evil which Professor Cartv says IS to be found i'll general existence even among the very young. It is clear that we owe 1t to our children to do what we l can to deliver them from those physical l conditions which, even if they do not 1 originate the disease, certainly intensity III