The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1884-07-05
School Children's Ewes.


Mention has been made of the system
Of cramming" in public schools, or what
Professor Huxley calls the ''abomina-
non OF desolation'' of competitive exam
mas1on, prizes, etc, that goad on child
rem OF different strength and capacity
TO equal tasks, to which the strongest
anu brightest are scarcely equal. and
hiilng insane asyiums and graveyards.
with hapless victims, Or making mental
and physical wrecks of the most prom
ising youth OF the land.
Continuing the subject, there is an
other and eqnslly horrible fate coming
fearfuily fast upon our children, and #
statistics are reliable it will be but a
few years and sightless race will FILL
the blind asylums, as are others with
the insane. Astigmatism and myopia
are becoming alarmingly frequent in
our public schools. One only has to
walk the streets of the city to see the
evidence of it. He will be surprised at
the number Of children met Of all ages
from IL to and 6 years, wearing
glasses. Ask them why they wear
glasses. and the answer is because they
are near-sighted or see double. This IS
the first step toward total darkness. IT.
retrievable and irrcvocable, unless the
first warning is fully needed and halt
is made.
As the brain and physical system
breaks down under the ''crammng pro-
cess, so with the eve. The eve in its
movements is controlled by the same
general laws as other muscular struc-
lures No movement of the ere can be
made without the exercise Of muscles.
No change in the focus OF the eye for
long OF short distance, can be made
without muscular force. For near ob-
lects the natural or normal eve, if used
but one minute, must sustain muscular
effort or tension with an evenness al
most without parallel IN other muscles
OF the body-in fact. few other muscles
could sustain it without immediate re-
suits. The slightest variation IN the
degree OF variation in the degree of this
muscular tension causes a blurring of
the images on the retina, or blurring
OF the eye, as it is called. The perpen-
dicular or horizontal lines have diff
fercnt focus, and mental force is used
to combine them, the overtaxed muscles
rebel, the letters begin to blur" then
to run together, and finally they can.
not be distinguished at ALL This is as
tignatisn. With few momen4s' rest,
work can be resumed, only to be again
interrupted. Tlis is the result of insult
ficient or bad light, for what is called
the hyperopie or long sighted eve. II
the insufficient light, the insufficient or
other bad influences are OF removed,
congestion, ensues, bloodshot eyes,
headache, uatil finally complete col
lapse, and the Oculist must be resorted
to frequently as ignorant as the build
ers of the school-house, or the mana
gers of the school-roon wherein the
trouble was developed. But it is in
myopia, with its train OF evils that the
worst results of school life as it exists
under the present system, are to bo
seen. An examination of over 10000
pupils in the city schools at Breslau
showed that 3 5 per cent. in the lowest
or kindergarten were myop;c. increas-
ing to the enormous rate Of 63 per cent.
among pupils of 13 to IA years. At
koenigsberg, of 5,03e pupils, Ill of the
lowest classes and 62.1 per cent. of
highest classes were mvopic. In New
York. of 2,265 pupils 3.5 Of the lowest
(6 to years. were myopic.
These are startling figures for pa
rents to contemplate, and the question
comes forcibly for solution whethe: or
not this forcing and examining process
pays in the eEd. Would anyone re- |
quire child to WELD ALI OK, or perform
any muscular act with the strength |
and power of an adult, muscular per-
son. and yet that is Just what is cx.
pected and demanded OF an infant
child. whose eyes are put to the extra I
tasks Of the present day. The muscles
OF locomotion, or those used in labor,
become fatigued by even moderate use
for An hour, yet the muscles Of the
eyes are e <pected to bear the tension of !
hard labor for hours, under unnatural [
conditions. It is no marvel that the
overtaxed muscles of the weakling
child fail, and that the resort to glasses
is becoming alarmingly frequent. Wig
orous warning of the danger-land into
which the child has entered, and which
with almost unerring certainty ends in |.
blindness.-Des No mes Register.
Pancakes Cooked BY Lightning.