Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1885-01-13
CHILDREN'S EYES.
AN OCULlST TALKS ABOUT EYE
SIGHT IN THE SCHOOLS.
Reports froy., Different Foreign Experts
The Schools to Blame for the In
crease Of Eye Troubles-Coior
Observation-Disclosures
Chicago Sews.J

Chicago Sews.l
Dr. William F. Smith. weli-k,icwn
oculist who has practicei in San Francisco
for fifteen years, and who came TO Chicago
in July last from Mexico, has made propos.-
ton to the city board of education 10 e1-
anime the eyes of tie s:hcol children as to
the condition Of the refraction and the per
lection or imperfectioa Of the color sense.
His wish is to determine the condition of
every child's eyes TO whether they have
normal visual power, and, if not, the quai:iv
and degree Of the anomaly. This has b7ei'
done an Europa and school architecture has
been advantageou-ly notified on the results
OF such examination. The percentage 81
glass or lighting ARIA 10 the floor area has
been determined, as we'll a the form of seat
lest ADAPTED 10 the various grades
The Importance of this is shown by re-
ports from different experts. DIR. Cohn, of
Breslau, examined IL, go school children. y
per cent. Of whom had imperfect vision. DIR.
Emil Emmsrt, OF Berne, mas compiled the
reports Of twenty-four authors, showing ex-
animation Of -, 600 chillren, 25.32 per cent.
Of which number had myopia. In his own
examination Of i,2272 children, 9s2 per cent.
hal normal visign l2.6 were myopic ornear
sighted, requiring concave glasses, and :.
sight requiring convex glasses. Toshow how
these diseases increase q table of ages was
gwen At years of age the percentage Of
myopic cases was l0.2; at 10, -; at T. 2I5;
at Il, s.; at 10, %: at Is, 40, and at -, -
DIR. Seggel, of Munchen brigade physician,
this year reported that he had examined
3, l2l soldiers, of whom - per cent had good
vision, though not all were free from an alb
al hal lass
than normal OF $50 examinations made
of people of different professions A were
emmctropic or normal. 3S3 hypermetrpp:c,
Isl myop.c, and IL astigma ic, while the
percentage If those in the number engaged
in literary work was :}j.S emmetropic. IS
myopic, and ca hypermetropic. DIR. Arthur
Won Hirpei, in an address fefore the Ludwig
university, said: The organization and
equipment of our high schools are to blame
for an ever increasins number of myopes,
and unless this increase can lie checked We
aIe in the presence of & great calamity"
Dr.. Smith said the other day that in
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 si'le, and the pupils on the dark
= le had not sufficient light. Dr. Cohn had
,ad that the glass area should be 50 per cent.
u the floor area. The position OF the seats
AMI the construction of them with regard to
position of the body affected the eye. The
sinalle I pressure, no matter of however soft
"a substance, on q hard one would affect it If
continually applied, as witness a tumor
pressing on the spinal cord or the little rub
Der land place around a tooth by n dentist
t. 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 forwa to read the book in front of
it, the eye would become hurt. Possibly
fortress would obviate this, but other ex-
peTiments would have 10 be tried.
Each child should have plenty of space
AID it had been found that nine square fect
was the proper amount for each one After
describing the differen. forms of short
sishtedness, the doctor said that astigmatism
was one which should be carefully looked
after 1t was the irregularity OF the surface
of the eve which every one had, more or less,
hut which, if 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, q
sailor, 4 painter, tailor, or many other
professions The general average was that
four out OF every 100 people were color
blind, but a man might be color blind and
live On till his death without knowing it
Only two women out Of every $50 arc color
blind.