Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-07-19
THE CRoss-EYED BRIGADE.
Woes and Annoyances of the Victims of
Strabismus.
Ae10 York Times.

Neao York Times.
''Watch that waiter" said the Doctor.
as he indicated by a jerk Of his thumb a
black-frocked, white-aproned seryitor,
who was pursuing an unsteady course
through the maze of tables and chairs at
the further end Of the restaurant. s'No-
tice the way he carries his head. See how
he twists his neck away to avoid looking
any one IN the eye. / suppose you think
am going to tell you that the man is a
reformed cut-thrOat OF fugitive New Jer-
sey bank official. But I am not. He is an
innocent, moral man, for all that l know
to the contrary, but he is terribly affiict-
ed. He needs pity and obscurity. He
would be more at home on Selkirk's ISL
and than on Broadway. He is cross-eyed.
'The pathology of this disease" said
the physician, as he lighted cigar and
settled himself in chair for d talk, sis
two-fold. 1t is both moral and medical
The mental, as well as the physical quail
tiles of the victim are influenced by this
serious atfiiction. know of no disease.
deformity, or malady which produces
such marked etfectsson man as strabis-
mus. 1t is human nature to cover up
ones defects. False moustaches hide
bad teeth and hare lips. raise legs and
arms NIL vacant trousers and sleeves.
Pads take the place of natural plumpness.
and paint and powder cover eruptive
compilations. Even waXen noses and
ears supply the missing features, but
nothing can hide pair of cross ewes. The
eyes have been called windows of the
soul. They are the most expressive
part of the face. They denote a mans
passion, his feeling, his sentiments. You
always look into a mans eyes when he
talks to you. You may never see how he
is dressed; his boots may be out of STYLE
and shape and badly worn; he may be at
tired IN broadcloth or jeans without at
tracing your attention, but if the express
sion of his eye is bad, it is seen in
second. And this is not the worst of it.
If limb is so crippled that it attracts
your attention the victim may not happen
TO notice your scrutiny, but if YOU look
into his crooked eyes he detects your
glance instantly. 1t requires more than
natural politeness to look a cross-eyed
person in the face and not indicate by the
slightest sign that his deformity is noticed,
and very few people have been able to ac-
cOmplish the feat.
You would think that a cross-eyed
person would overcome his sensitiveness,n
continued the doctor, ''but he seldom
does. He brOods over it. 1t grows on
him. He imagines every one he meets
thinks as much about 1t as he does, and
life often loses all attraction for him,
Did you ever notice a cross-eyed man
L
see him. 1t impartS to his gait a certain
movement peculiar to the whole class of
cross-eyed people. But it is not altogether
bashtulneSs which causes him to avoid
looking person squarely in the face. If
he retained the power of sight in each of
his crooked eyes, as is often the case, it
would do him no good to look the Ordi-
nary way. He would be very likely to
miss the object altogether. The lines of
his vision would probably cross a foot or
so before the object was fully compre-
hended, and all he would see would be the
faint and shadowy outlines of a pair of
ears or the rim of hat. The place where
the face ought to be would be dismal
blank. Many bright futures are ruined
by this fearful misfortune"
"Can this atfiction be cured?r asked
the reporter"
Casually it cam" was the answer.
''Strabismus is caused by a want of
parallelism between the visual axes of
the eyes, to be technical. 1t is not, prop
erly speaking, a disease, and in its ordi-
nary form is attended by no pain. There
are three kinds of strabismus. The
slightest is called a east of the eye,' and
is only noticeable when the eyes are
turned in a certain direction. The COM
monest type is when One-halt of the cornea
is thrown under the eyelid. The most
marked form is where the cOrnea is
thrown entirely under the eyelid. This is
sometimes seen in persons who are
blind, but rarely i'll those who can
see. The direction of the eye is
not always towards the nose, although
that is the most frequent course. 1t
sometimes turns up and sometimes down.
Often it turns out, producing what is
called 'wall-eye,' most CHASTITY specta-
Gle, giving the victim an almost idiotic
expression. 1t is not unusual for the two
eyes to take different cOurses-one out
and the other in, or one down and the
other up. Strabismus is rarely congenital,
and is nearly always caused by some ac-
cident. 1t is sometimes of the intermit-
tent type, the expression of the face
changing with the condition of the disease,
so that the unfortunate person cannot be
recognized from one month to another eX-
cepting by his clothes. The operation to
be undergone by the patient is simple and
practically painless. For the convergent
cases there is no pain whatever, only a little
annoyance while the operator is reaching
the little muscle which has to be divided.
| have performed the operation hundreds
of times on other people, sometimes CIV
ing anasthetics, and often with no. such
aid. The patient is stretched on the table.
| draw apart with my fingers the lids of
his eyes and insert between them a little
steel instrument shaped like the letter o.
liz SluCo VI lulS CAp tHu ny Il spring anu
force the lids open, disclosing the eyeball
and the network of muscles holding it in
position and directing its movements.
When this expansion is accomplish
ed | lift up the muscle with
small pair of tweeZers, and divide
it with my instrument. When it is cut
it feels to the patient as if a small band
of rubber was being snapped. There is
no pain at all. Very often, however, pain
full operations are performed. The muscle
has sometimes been divided too much,
and the error has to be rectified. This re-
quires some stitches to be taken, and
new cut to be made? The patient must
be made unconscious while this is going
on"
"Can you cure any case ofstrabismus?,
81 can benefit any ordinary case,
even when it can't be entirely cured /
have often wished that l could operate
on Ben Butler. | think / could give him
as straight eyes as | have in half an