Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1884-12-01
MOON BLINDNESS.
Frequent on the China Sea and Indian
Ocean-Cured by Darkness.

From the New York Sun.
Moon blindness" said an old sailor, gazing
at the upper rigging of a California clipper near
Wall street terry yesterday, '.why. of course
there's such thing. I've seen it often. / had
touch of it myself once. I don't see, though,
how the English rear admiral makes out that
the loss Of the gunboat Wasp was due to moon
blindness. 1t gets its name. not because man
who has it can't see distinctly under the moon
light, but because it is caused by sleeping with
the moon shining on the face. You know at
once when you have it, In tact. you often get
stone blind. and remain so for month or more
can't imagine how it could occur near Eng
land, for people are not likely to sleep in the
mOOnshne there.
"In the China sea and the Indian ocean it is
well known. The Lascars frequently have it,
and when passenger steamer remains for a
night at port the captain generally warns
every body who wants TO sleep on deck-and most
OF them do in those hot lattudes-to be care
ful to keep well under the awning / remember
once landing passenger at Singapore quite
blind. He persisted In sleeping ON the fore
castle head. as we lay fora night in Penang and
the moon shone on his face for five or six hours.
When he awoke his sight was gone and he
thought it was still night, though the sun
had aroused him. We went back to Calcutta
and when we reached Singapore on our next
trip he had recovered. but he hated the sight Of
the moon ever afterward.
II never knew q case Of moon blindness that
was not cured. You have only to keep in the
dark until sight comes back. Mine was only
partial blindness, though the sight of one eve
was nearly gone. | was well in week. The
attack is generally accompanied by bad sick
headache, but most people are too much fright
ened to think about that. | never heard of q
woman being afflicted with moon blindness"
Old Pompeii Like Modern Cities.
From All the Year Round
Indeed, the whole Pompeian household
seemed pervaded by high art, from the frescoes
In the bed rooms to the crockery in the kltch-
ems and the statues in the hall.
Nor was art adapted only to the uses of the
rich. Even the butcher used steeIyard with a
handsome head of bronze to serve by way Of
weight, and the vintner poured his wine into a
drinking cup adorned with bas-relief of Bac-
chus Verify, there is nothing new under the
sun. The bread baked yesterday at Naples is
precisely the same shape as the loaves found at
Pompeii. which were put into the oven near two
thousand years ago. The coinage of that period
differs little from our own, except that it sur
passes ours in quality of workmanship. A
gaming table then was furnished with pair of
dice. and ladies toilet table with mirror and
a rouge pot. Sruall boys scrubbed on the walls.
and played with balls and knuckle bones and
whipping tops and marbles in the streets OF old
Pompeii, as they do in modern Paris. Naples.
London or Berlin The printing press had not
then been invented, 1t is true and new spaperswere
wanting for the purpose of advertisement. But
electors were appealed to very much as they are
now, as is proved by many mural inscriptions
in the place. BY these they were adjured to
Vote for Biobbius, the True Friend of the
People, or to go and hear Bugginsius the IA
nous platform orator. vino was noted for his
pluck in pitching into the patricians as speak
ers may be nowadays who abuse the House of
Lords. Excepting books and newspapers whose
presence some may fancy a not wholly unmixed
blessing there are traces at Pompei of all sorts
OF London-shop things and ways and means of
living. There even are the pass-checks which
were current at the theater, where the people
'ere assembled at the time OF the eruption. and
The figs and other fruit which We're prepared for
their retreshment upon that fatal afternoon.
One other exception, however, must be made
Among the myriad OF articles preserved in the
museum, [ vainly strained my eyes to see a
classic corkscrew. But a moments thought eX-
planned the absence of this interesting instru-
ment. There We're no corks used when Horace
that delightful diner-Out. begged his host to let
him taste that famous four year-od Falernian.
the SAVIOR OF which still sweetly fingered in his
memory, while, to keep the wintry cold out
few more logs were heaped upon the hosptable
hearth.