Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-03-26
Schools and Ewes.

THE Philadelphia Ledger has recently
been calling attention TO the strain neces
| sarily placed upon the eyes of the pubIic
school pupils in that city, and sharnIv
criticises the want of adaptation in fhe
| structure of the buildings to the heath nj
those ornamental and useful organs. The
! main point Of these criticisms is nv no
/ means exclusively applicable to PhiIa-
| delphia. The public school-houses there
are, on an average, better arranged in This
respect than they are in MANY other
| places. At all events, the fault is far
| from being a peculiar or uncommon one
If there is any part of the earth's surface
, where schools are to be found at ali in
which the same deficiency does not exist.
| we must acknowledge our Ignorance of
! even the name of that happy locality,
The increasing prevalence of certain
defects of the eye has been for many
years a subject of serious consideratio1
and investigation in Germany. Gases of
near-sightedness especially have in that
! country been found to be becominp more
and more numerous. Similar inyestira-
tions would undoubtedly develop some.
| thing like this state of affairs here
| though not to the same degree. Buf
| however our country may in regard to
these points compare with Germany or
| any other nation, there is quite enough
here to demand the earnest attention of
parents, teachers, physicians, and ali
| others who take an interest in the
welfare of the boys and girls who
are growing up. A disease of the
eye, 1T is true. does not often
endanger life; nor is near-sightedness as
serious calamity as the loss of q limb
Knit and nSonnio11,-
man, who, on account of chronic inf1am-
nation of the conjunctiva or incinient
amaurosis is forbidden by his physician
to read or study, except PERHAPS a very
short time by daylight each day, is de-
prived of privileges for which TO many
individuals no amount of money. however
great, would be a substitute. The incon-
veniences to which near-sighted man is
subjected, whether he wears spectacles or
goes without them, are often no slight
matter. Nor are they always mere incOn-
veniences. There are many employments
from which he is, where the defect exists
in a serious degree, either practically ex-
Guided, or in the exercise of which he is
subjected to great impediments and diff
culties.
The question Of the condition of a
school pupils eyes relates not only to the
manner but to the extent of their use
Many children, particularly those under
ten or twelve years of age, are required to
keep their eyes upon the pages of books
fully twice as much as they ought to be.
Excessive labor of the eyes is one of
the ways in which school-boys and
schoolgirls, through the misdirected
zeal OF their parents to give them
a good education, are often in a great
measure deprived of the power of enioy-
ing or using that education after they have
got it. Unhappily, it is not the only
way.
1t would be an exceedingly valuable in
vestigation if medical gentlemen of skill
and reputation should be employed to
make careful examination of the eyes
OF the pupils Of the public schools of our
large cities. This could probably be done
with little expense. There are scientific
men of high standing who would, we
should imagine, be glad to assist in the
work for little compensation. The results
OF such an Investigation would, unques-
tionably, startle the community Whether
the work would Immediately accomplish
anything more than merely to create a
sensation on the subject, we do not know.
But in any case it would set some people
any attention to it before, and would ulti
mately, If not at once, produce beneficial
effects. There is scarcely any branch of
hygiene in regard to which so much def
mite and tangible knowledge could be OBJ
tanned by scientific examinations and in
vestigatiOns Of the kind of which we are
speaking as that which relates to the
health and preservation of the organs
OF sight. Indeed, some of the defects
to which they are liable can not only
be ascertained with certainty, but defined
with almost mathematical exactness.
This is especially true Of the important
and, as we have already intimated, in
creasing defect of near-sightedness. It is
almost as easy to know precisely how
near-sighted an individual is as how tall
he is, or how many pounds, he weighs. !
Any good Optician or oculist could in a |
couple of hours or less find out the exact |
condition IN this respect of every indi- |
vidual in pretty large school.
We have had room in this article to do |
nothing more than call attention to the |
general subject of it. Particular iIlustra- |
tiOns, however, Of the evils to which we |
have been abiding will, we doubt not at
once occur to many of our readers, espe- |
cially those of them who are the parents |
of children attending either public or |
private schools. These illustrations |
would, we fear, present themselves still |
more numerously and forcibly if parents |
and others interested in the education OF
children would more generally than is |
now the case take the interest in the sub |
Iect which its Importance Demands
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