The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1883-05-18
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Children and their Eyesight.

An interesting letter, writes our Gen.
eva correspondent, on the effect OF
reading and writing on the eyesight of
young children was given a short time
ago at Berne, by Prof. Pfnger, great
authority on the subject. The lecturer
first called attention to the fact that
more than one-half of $4,000 children
lately examined in Germany were found
to be suffering from defective vision.
In some schools the proportion of the
short-sighted was as high as seventy and
eighty per cent. In the Heidelberg
gymnasium it was 100 per cent. every
lad in the school had bad eyesight.
According to Professor Pfnger, this la
mentable state of things arises from
several causes-from inSufficiently
lighted school-rooms, bad print and
paper, the method of writing in vogue
and ill-contrived desks and FORMS An
evil equally great, if not greater than
all those combined, and resulting in
something more than defective vision,
is the burdening of children with too
many lessons and the consequent re-
striction of their hours of play. In
order to solve the yexed question of the
influence of German caligraphy on the
eyes of those who adopt it, the Govern
ment of Wurtemberg some time ago
appointed commission consisting of
three schoolmasters and three physi-
clans to investigate the matter, and
make a report. In the opinion of these
gentlemen the mere writing is least
among the causes which unfavorably
affect children's eyesight. They found
that, while comparatively few children
write with their backs bent toward the
left, fully eighty per cent give their
backs in writing a right inclination.
The latter position tends to produce a
permanent elevation of the right shout
der, and if persisted in, curvature of the
spine. In the schools they visited the
commissioners actually found twenty
per cent. of the boys and from thirty to
forty per cent. of the girls suffering
from more or less pronounced curvature
due to this cause. The difference be-
tween the two sexes is probably due to
the fact thatthe lads, besides being more
energetic in play, are more nationally
clad than girl scholars. As to position
in writing, the distance between the
desk and the eyes ought to be about
twenty-five centimeters; yet it was
rarely, indeed, that the commissioners
met with any children who could keep
their eyes at this the normal distance
from the paper. Many of them find it
necessary to bring their faces within
seven centimetres (2.75 inches) of their
copy books. The general conclusion
of the commissioners as of Professor
Pfinger is that of all the evils enume-
rated the worst, and those most in need
of reform, are the seats and desks at
present in use. The Professor further
rem arked that only ten per cent. of the
children examined were naturally short
sighted, and that, as among wild races
defective vision is almost entirely un-
known, the trouble in question is pecu-
liar to modern civilization and the exist
ing method of teaching. In conclusion
Herr Pfnger expressed the fear that no
was like one crying in the wilderness.
the prevailing tendency being to lay on
the children of this generation still
heavier burdens and force their minds
to the lasting injury of their bodies
london Times