Wichita eagle., 1886-08-28
ANEAR-elGATED MANS EXPERIENCE

a Thrilling Discovery in Boyhood-My-
opia Leads to Cataract.
II. Francesque Sarcey, the well-known
French critic, has written little work which
is well worth perusal by virtue of its charm
ing style and the freshness and force with
which he describes the course and the dangers
OF near-sightedness. His book is an auto
biography. so far as relates to his eyes. He
begins: y was born near-sighted, dreadfuily
near-sirhted. Many physicians assert that
persons are never born near-sighted, but only
become SO However, science may think
what she rleases, but | was born mvopic.n
The very day on which his infrInity was
discovered is indelibly stamped on his mem
DRY, ard his account Of It is quite worth
transcribing 'One day, prompted By the
spirit of mischief, got hold of the big silver
spectacles which my father always wore, and
clapped them on. Fifty years have passed
away since then, but the sensation l expert
enced is keen and thrilling to this day l
gave q cry Of establishment and joy. Up to
that moment had seen the lofty dome above
me only as thick. green CLOTH through which
no ray of sunlight ever fell Now, 0 wonder
and delight, I saw that in this dome were
OF myriad separate and distinct leaves,
through whose inte:stices the sunshine
shifted imparting to their greenery 4 thou
sand tones Of light aid shade. But what
amazed me most, what so enchanted me that
1 cannot speak Of it to this day without emo
ton, was that l saw suddenly between the
leaves, and far away beyond them, little
glinnsas of the bright, blue sky. l clapped
my hands: was mad with establishment and
delight"
Very high myopia like Sarcey's is rare;
but moderate degrees of myopia are very COM
mon; and myopia, ss Sarcey states. is increas-
ing and spreading through Europe like some
epidemic disease. Among the anciclts it ap-
pears to have been practically unknown. As
evidence of this 81. S2rcey refers to the an
Gent amphitheatres, in which 10000 specta-
tors sat and viewed the games without glass.
Perhaps to be sure, the myopes of those days
might have learned to stay At home. How
ever, that inyopia is increasing there can be
no doubt. In fifteen years the proportion of
undoubted myopes in the Polytechnic School
of France has risen from 80 to so per cent.
and 50 per cent OF the students have TO wear
glasses.
y. Sarcey urges his readers with profound
emphasis to remember that nlyopia has ten
dencv to increase unless nunlberless precau-
tons are taken. and that all myOpic eyes arc
weak ewes to be looked after carefully by their
posasscr In his own case the result of overuse
and misuse OF his ewes, especially his attempts
to get along without glasses, was that he lost
the eyesight Of one eye entirely, through de-
tachment of the retina, and that q cataract
developed in the other
The loss Of the eye he attributes to the eff
fects OF studying when a boy in badly
lighted school room, and he invokes all
mothers to examine into the school rooms.
If they he not fairly flooded with light, take
your son home again. To leave him bent for
ten years over di;nly lighted books is, if he
has the least tendency to this trouble, almost
certain to lay up myopia for his manhood;
if he be already nlyopic. it is to assure him a
blind old age"
Sarceys description of the development OF
his cataract and of its removal IS vivid and
dramatic The operation was successful, and
he now secs distinct objects even better th2n
before The epilogue to his story Is: Re
member that ali extreme Tnyopia ends almost
infaIlibly in cataract, and that nearly all my
opia may become extreme if the eyes are
abused Medical Record.