The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-06-30
OF THE SIGHT
A Veteran Editors Experience
Given for the Benefit
of Others.

The editor of the Huntsville Demo-
cyat, whs has passed his three score
years without the use of eye glasses,
and can still, with his natural eyes,
read fine print, wishes to give other
people nearing the sere and yellow
leaf the benefit of his ocular expert
ence. Therefore, he tells them that
in 1866 he found his eyesight failing,
indicated by dark specks ~fittearing
over the page and a haZy appearance
of the letters when he was reading.
Remembering to have heard his
mother say that ex-President John
Quincy Adams (who lived to about
eighty years. had preserved his eye
sight and read without glasses by
pressing the outer and inner corners
of his eyes together, the editor tried
the experiment. After retiring to
his bed at night, he has, ever since
the fall Of 1855, before going to sleep
pressed gently together the outer and
inner corner of each eye between the
thumb and forefinger of the hand
corresponding to the right and left
eye, applying equal simultaneous
pressure to both eyes. Or, using but
one hand, he has put the middle
finger on his 1orenead above his
nose, and pressed together the cor
ners of one between the thumb aud
forefinger, and the corners Of the
other eye between the third and
fourth fingers, striving to give equal
pressure to both eyes. The philOso-
ply of the experiment is explained in
this way: AS the people pass the
middle age there is said to be land we
believe it, a tendency of the balls of
the eye to lose their cOnvexity-in
common parlance to flatten. The
habitual pressure Of the outer and in
ner corners of the eyes together pre-
vents %fiattening, and thereby pre-
serves the original normal convexity
of the eyes, and thereby the original
power of seeing. Near-sighed per-
o n r exceptions to the rule. Near
sightedness las we understand) is
caused by too great a %convexity ofthe
eye. Oftentimesas they advance in
years their eyes f1atten; that is lose
their original convexity, and become
more nearly like the good eyes of
young people, and they can see bet
ter without glasses and lay them
aside.
Whether Jul philosophical expla-
nation is right or wrong, this one
thing we know, that whereas We,
owe seventeen years ago, were losing
our original power Of seeing, now, by
the manipulation of our eyes as
above explained, we can see az clear
ly without the use Of glasses, and can
read small print almost, if not quite,
as well as in u youth, while men
and women many years our Juniors,
some of them U near blood rela-
tives, who have not res0rted to our
mode of preserving the eyesight, are
compelled to use glasses. Believing
it our duty to mankind to do them
all the good we can, we overcome our
native modesty about writing Of our
self by the consideration that we may
benefit others by relating u own
experience.
The reason why both eyes should
be subject to the equal simultaneous
pressure is that, to see clearly, both
eyes should behold objects at the
Sdul6 lOCAl auu CulS CaHuOC
he il the two eyes have not the same
convexity. If the two eyes should
see objects at different distances, the
objects would present different i'm
ages on the two retin9 of the eyes,
and produce q confusion of images, |
and, of course, impair distinct vision.
Instances occur OF persons who have
a natural infirmity of the eyes with
different foci-One eye seeing at one
focal distance. the other eye seeing
at another focal distance. In such
cases occulists provide eye glasses of
different foci, SO accommodated as to
correct the natural defect and make
both eyes see alike.-H Huntsville (AIa.) |
Democrat.