The Portland daily press., 1876-10-31
AN INTRR EsTING ARTICLE.


In the Proceedings of the Maine Medical As
ISOLATION for 1876 from the press of Stephen
Berry, is to be found valuable paper by Dr..
James A. Spalding of this city, on short-sght
in Portland school children. The paper has al
ready attracted considerable attention in medi-
cal circles, and as it is of so much interest to
Portland readers it is here repubished in full
For some time past 1 have been occupied in
| making an examination of the sight of the
children in the various Primary and Grammar
schools of this city. 1t had also been my inten-
| ton TO examine the scholars in the High
Schools, but owing to some mistakes and mis-
understandings, nothing was done in these
| schools. Although it would surely have added
much to the value of the results gained by such
| examinations as have made, to have carried
them through the High Schools, vet l trust
that such results as have reached in the lower
| grades of schools may prove of interest aud
| benefit.
The method Of examination was az follows:
| Each scholar was tested slngly with Snellet's
| Test Type, at twenty feet distance in a bright
| room. Those whose sight was 10 any way af
| fected, We're in this way sifted out from those
| with good sight After this had been carefully
done, in some cases by the teachers, to whose
| accuracy and care | owe many thanks and in
| some by myself l tested each scholar with de-
fective SIGHT with the series of larger test type,
| found the exact proportional amount of sight
| and then corrected it by convex or concave
| glasses, as the case might demand. Where no
| improvement coald be obtained by either con-
| cave or convex glasses astigmatic glasses were
| tried Some of the scholars with detective Wis
| ion, which could not be corrected by glasses,
| were examined with the ophthamOscope. In
regard to this latter point, regret that was
| unable 20 make more extended search. Ia all,
| 372 children were thus tested
The results may be thus briefly stated In
| the Grammar Schools | found 20 per cent of
| the children with defective sight, and in the
| Primary Schools 81 per cent. OF these 20 per
| cent 10 the Grammar Schools found 16 per
cent in all who were at all short-sighted, while
| 10 per cent of the whole required glasses
stronger than Sc inches focus, to correct the my
opia present. OF the 81 per cent in the Prim-
airy Schools, 1 found per cent who were
short-sigbted, and of the WHOLE 81 per cent
who required glasses stronger than Sc inches
focus To repeat, there was 10 per cent my
oopic, requiring glass stronger than 36 inches
focus for correction in the Grammar Schools,
in children from 10 to Is years of age, aud 81
IN the Primary Schools, in children from to
10 years of age. MyOpia was more common, in
the proportion of to 4, amongst girls than
boys, especially in the higher degrees In quite
number of cases of high degrees of myopia, it
was impossible by any kind Of glasses to bring
about perfect sight, thus showing that Short
sight IN high degrees is united with defect of
visual power, and is not a blessing as some peo-
pie will persist in insisting upon.
have not thoughtit advisable to make ia
Bile of the other causes of defective vision, as
hypermetropa, astigmatism or ambyopia, nor
have l counted in as detective any children in
any way temporarily afflicted with infammato-
~ diseases to which we are all liable. Suffice
it to say that, with very few exceptions, the
eyes of all the children examined were found
in surprisingly healthy state. My idea, when
l began testing the school children, was simply
to find bow much short sight could be found
among them, and if l found it in any amount
to say few words about it.
The first point which L would speak is
lighting the school rooms How then are they
off for light? In reply it may be said that
some of them are remarkably well lighted and
nOticeably, those of the North School, where
the light comes ia brightest from one side and
from the other side and rear in subdued
amount, some are moderately well lighted, as
those in the High School building, with equal
light from both sides, but where the windows
are not cut up high enough towards the ceiling
to let iE light enough on gloomy day to make
the middle rows of seats desirable for any
scholars at all, even those with the sharpest
eyesight; while some. and especially the Park
st. Grammar School, are miserabiy lighted
II this school the light strikes directly into the
faces OF the scholars, and also directly upon
their backs. They thus have glare in front
aud a shadow thrown from behind. In this
school and IN a school similarly lighted on
Bracket Street, found the greatest percsnt-
age of detective sight. 1t always seems to me
just as absurd to read with the face directed
towards the brightest source of light, thus
position possible, as it would be to weigh down
oneself with letters when going walking.
There is great deal doing in the schools at
music and drawing aud l rejoice at it, for
music is great source OF happiness, while
drawing is both fascinating and beneficial as
an employment. But | would suggest one or
two points as to their teaching 1t seems to
me that those scholars who are Of defective
sight, who cannot see without glasses, or who
have to bend their heads down to the too nearly
level desks, should not be forced to draw, unless
they have such talent for it that it would seem
pity not to encourage it carefully. AS for
music, know that the charts used for teach
lug in the schools are of too small type to be
seen across moderately large school room,
except on very bright day; and even then it
requires an effort on the part of even the most
sharp-sghted scholars, as several of them have
complained while was making my examina-
tons The black quarter notes are ndistpct
at 30 feet, aud hence much more so are the
half and whole notes with their narrow bound
ing line. So on this point l would suggest
that other similar charts might be placed at
other points in the school room, and in this
way much straining of the eyes could be
avoided
The school books, SO far as have seen, are
we'll printed; the ink used is black enough but
the desks have hardly enough slope
1t is useless to suggest that the teachers Of a
crowded school might find time to watch the
scholars with defective sight, to BEE that they
do not hold their books too close to ,heir eyes,
or to make them hold their books up from the
desk and parallel 10 their face or to prevent
too long and unremittpg search for uuimpor-
tsnt places in an atlas, But what the teachers
eau do, and ought to do, is this; every scholar
known to have defective sight ought to have
seat in the very best light in the room, ire
spectve of what class each may belong to. l
would range the defective sighted scholars
along each outer low of desks, as near to the
windows as possible, where the light comes
from the sides; while in those schools which
q On fnvfn nofn To has fI,Dl ,<.l,t
the front and back both would put them on
the rows of seats nearest the back windows
Ia every school there should be a rest every
half hour, if even for a minute only, from
reading, and especially from writing and draw
ing, the pursuit of which, for steady hour. is
wearisome enough to practised eye, and much
more so to all young beginners, who strain as
it were, at each point in line, so as to make it
as nearly like the copy as possible Fine hand
writing ought never to have been invented, and
especially IN the ruled-off way--the measured
space way-in which it is taught nowadays.
ANY child, taught large, round, flowing hand
will soon learn enough to make it proportion
ately smaller and smaller, as space and paper
| demand
| In examining few of the scholars who wore
| glasses, was struck with the unusual and un-
necessary strength of their glasses Too strong
| glasses require too much exertion of the eye.
| Glasses for short-sighted persons should be the
| weakest possible with which they can see clear
! ly at distance while for reading they should,
! except III some rare cases. be still weaker.
| Shall We give glasses for reading, in short
| sight? For children whose sight can be per-
| fectly corrected by concave glasses, that is if
| there be no amblyopia as result of myopic
| distention of the eyeball, with changes in the
| inner luuics of the eye, and if the eye has
! good power OF accommodating itself for near
| objects, see no objection to their wearing
| glasses; and with this advantage, that, if worn
early in life, they will, in all probability, pte-
| vent further increase of the myopia After
! twenty years of age, and with advancing age,
| they may be diminished in strength, or even
| convex glasses m ay be WORD,
| But, after all, the only place 10 teach chill
| dren how to use their eyes well, how not to
abuse them, ought to be at home They should
| be taught that the light should always come
| from the side, even over the shoulder; that
the book should be held up if possible, and
Fever in the lap; that they shonld always
have shade over lamp standing on a table
at level with THEN eyes, and especially il they
have to lace the light, as in writing and that
| all bending positions, and reading IN the tw-
light, or with the sunlight pouring over the
book, are very harmful to the eyes.
| In some of the school children l found N.Y.
| opa hereditary, being traceable to parents and