The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1884-12-26
NO. SO7
CHILDREN'S EYES.
AN OCULiST TALKS ABOUT EYE.
SIGHT IN THE SCHOOLS.
Reports from Different Foreign Experts.
The Schools to Blame for the In
crease of Eye Troubles-Color
Blindness-Astigmatism.
IChicagn NeWsl

tChicago Newsl
Dr. William F. Smith. q well-known
oculiSt, who has practiced in San Francisco
Tor fifteen years, and who came to Chicago
in July last from Mexico, has made a PROPOSE
tion to the city board of education TO ex-
anime the eyes of the school children as to
the condition Of the refraction and the per-
fection or imperfection of the color sense.
His wish is to determine the condition of
every child's eyes as to whether they have
normal visual power, and, if not, the quality
and degree Of the anomaly. This has been
done in Europe, and school architecture has
been advantageously modified on the results
Of such examination. The percentage of
glass or lighting area to the floor area has
been determined, as well as the form of seats
best adapted to the various grades.
The Importance of this is shown by re-
ports from different experts. DIR. Cohn, of
Breslau, examined 10, 060 school children Is
per cent. Of whom had imperfect vision DR..
Emil Emmert, of Berne, has compiled the
reports of twenty-four authors, showing ex-
animation of $1,000 children, 23.32 per cent.
Of which number had myopia. In his own
examination of 4,272 children, 9.S2 per cent.
had normal vision, 1875 were myopic or near
sighted, requiring concave glasses, and n
per cent. We're hypermetropic, a condition of
sight requiring convex glasses. To show how
these diseases increase table Of ages was
given. At years of age the percentage of
myopic cases was 10.2; at 10, 13; at 12, 2L5;
at IA, 81; at IL, 80; at Is, 40, and at 90, so.
DR.. Seggel, of Munchen, brigade physician,
this year reported that he hau examined
), ,12l soldiers, of whom 72 per cent had good
vision, though not all were free from an alb
normal condition, and % per cent had less
than normal OF 1910 examinations made
Of people of different professions A. were
emmetropic or normal, 3S3 hypermetropic,
49, myopic, and 1.2 astigma ic, while the
percentage Of those in the number engaged
in literary work was 35.S emmetropic, 57.5S
myopic, and 81 hypermetropc. DIR. Arthur
Won Hippel, in an address before the Ludwig
university, said @The organization and
equipment of our high schools are to blame
for an ever increasing number of myopes,
and unless this increase can DO checked we
are in the presence of great calamity"
Dr. Smith said the other day that in a
great proportion of the schools, perhaps not
so much in this country as in others, the
lighting area was small. The windows were
all ON one side, and the pupils on the dark
side had not sufficient light DR.. Cohn had
said that the glass area should be 80 per cent.
Of the floor area. The position Of the seats
and the construction Of them with regard to
position of the body affected the eye. The
smalle' pressure, no matter of however soft
a substance, on q hard one would affect it if
continually applied, as witness tumor
pressing on the spinal cord or the little rub
Der band place around tooth by a dentist
to bring it into position. So with the eye, if
a child had to sit in an unnatural position,
with its legs dangling down, and had to
strain forward to read the book in front of
1t, the eye would become hurt. Possibly
foot-rests would obviate this, but other ex-
periments would have to be tried.
Each child should have plenty of space
and it had been found that nine square feet
was the proper amount for each one. After
describing the different forms Of short
sightedness, the doctor said that astigmatism
was one which should be carefully looked
after. 1t was the irregularity Of the surface
of the eye which every one had, more or less,
but which, il 1t reaches a certain degree.
produces circles of diffusion on the retina in
stead of distinct images Color blindness
was important in determining what pursuit
a child might adopt A color-blind person
was, of course, not fitted for an engineer, a
sailor, painter, a tailor, or many other
professions The general average was that
four out Of every 100 people were color
blind, but man might be color blind and
live on till his death without knowing IL.
Only two women out of every 500 ere color
blind