The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-03-27
ARTIFICIAL EYES.
How Lost Visual Organs Are Replaced at
Trihing Cost.

now LOST VISUAL organs Are ffepIaccu AT
Trlfing Cost.
among several thousand of these
artificial eyes there are hardly two
which are alike in size or color," said
prominent manufacture on South
Clark street and formerpupil of DIR.
Boisenneau, of Paris, France, the in
ventor of an improvement in artificial
eyes, to reporter. People speak of
glass eyes-they are made for animals
and birds to be used by taxidermists--
but eyes for humans are made of en-
amel, variously colo-ed, excepting the
outer transparent part, or cornea,
which is of crystal
''In olden times golden plates We're
used, and even now in some parts of the
old world silver plates are often ems
ployed. You will observe that these
eyes are followed. This surprises
some people, who imagine they are
round and solid like marbles.
'When an eve is diseased its COM
panion is liable to suffer through SYM
pathy, and the removal of the former is
imperative. 1t is probably reasonable
estimate that one person out of every
one thousand has lost an eye. In about
half the cases the eye is entirely re-
moved, and in the remainder an opera
ton is performed, the conjunctiva being
divided and the natural muscles left to
control the artificial eye, or, as in acct
dents, the vitreous humor eXudes from
the eye, leaving a stump which receives
the enamel. In these latter cases the
artificial eye will move similarly to the
good eye, and the movements of the
eye-lids aid further in making the APP
pearance natural.
"The material is obtained direct from
Paris, and the process Of making is, of
course, secret, but the eyes can not
be nodded. They ale usually made to
order, several being manufactured, from
which the one best suited to the Gus
toner is selected. The remainder are
thrown into stock, which accounts for
the fact that no two are alike. The
eyes in stock are sold to the general
trade in collections of fifty, one hun
dred or more. Where parties out of
the city want eyes they are usually sent
a case of fifty to select one from, the
rest being returned. This house and
one in New York City are the only ones
manufacturing artificial eyes in this
country, but there are several such
concerns in Paris. We do Il business
of probably forty thousand dollars an
nually, the charges being ten dollars
for an eye, or fifteen dellars if made to
order.
people can often be fitted from
stock, but they will come hundreds of
miles to be fitted exactly with respect
to cavity, color, blood-vessels, etc.
Sometimes customer will take an eye
of a different color from the natural
one, and | have seen-though the fact
is not recorded in medical works-per-
sons who had one gray eye and one
blue one, or brown and blue one.
There is one thing that can not be imi-
tated-the contraction and dilation of
the pupil; therefore the pupil is made
of medium size But there have been
fashionable women who have ordered
an eye for daytime and different one
for night-one with small and the
other large pupil.
''Some people have queer notions
about artificial eyes and inquire in all
seriousness if they can see with them.
A notorious Chicago darky, who was
fitted with an eye, had his imagination
so worked upon that he insisted he
could see with it, and another negro,
in New ORLEANS, said all his friend be-
lieved he saw with his enamel eye. A
countryman once came in to have his
eye changed for one with more express
sion-a manifest absurdity.
IL had Il customer who successfully
pursued the vocation of thief by means
of an artificial eye. When he stole he
was a one-eyed man, and Immediately
afterwards he appeared with apparent
ly two good eyes. He escaped detec-
ton for long time. And, speaking
of theft, we had our entire stock of six
hundred eyes stolen before the great
fire by Dick Lane, the noted criminal,
now serving term in the Michigan
penitentiary for larceny. Eyes were
higher then, and the lot was worth at
least ten dollars each. Lane went
about the country as an oculist, and had
sold all the eyes before he was capt
ured. "-ChjedgO Nee0s.