The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1886-01-08
THE CARE OF THE EYES.
How They are Injured and What is Done
to Repair the Damage to them.

Everybody takes considerable inter
est in his eyes, y said prominent ocu-
list TO a reporter, land l don't think
ary other portion of the human anatO-
my is worthy of more attention. Yet
il Is more abused than any other organ.
FiJm early infancy it is treated shame
funv. The baBy's kuucklss poke 1t
and the lids are frequently made 10 open
To expose it to the view of admiring rel
atives and friends. Boy yhood's days
brig books TO be read and lessons to
be- worked into the brain through its
medium. Youth fills il with tobacco
smoke in the one sex and needlewOEk
and novels in the other. In maturity it
is abused of necessity by the use of .
spectacles. A poor eye is better than
no eye at all. Science has made the .
deaf to hear by means of various little ,
Instruments. Manufactured teeth Of /
ten serve the purpose better than the |
originals, and patent working arms and
legs often replace the natural members.
An eye once lost to it's sense of sight
can never be replaced by anything that
will restore that sense. Artificial eyes
have existed as long as there has been
any demand for them. "Step this way"
said the specialist, land | will show
you a large assortment of them" The
doctor reached up to the shelf in his
cabinet and took down two small fiat
boxes One Of them was labelled,
left Eyes, Assorted, - and the other,
fright Eyes, Assorted"
The doctor opened the boxes, and
there, resting on soft beds of tissue pa
per, were hundreds of left and right
eyes. They were of every shape, size
ard color imaginable, and looked pei
fectly natural in their upward gaze.
The eye was simply a CONGO convex
shell, and the doctor explained that the
natural working and turning of the ar
tiicial eve was lot due to any improved
mechanism, but simply to the modern
method of operating on the genuine eye.
Instead of removing the injured eye en-
tiCely as formerly only a part was re-
moved, and the artificial organ was fit
ted on the stump, which would continue
to move with the muscles.
"DO they eyer wear Outp"
"Oh yes, that's the beauty of them.
The acidity of the teaI of the human
eye will eat up glass, and it makes then
rough and honey -combed like sandstone
They usually last year and cost 81
apiece. Many wearers buy two or three
at time to have them on hand in cast
of accident -
"Can person cry just as we'll will
the artificial eye?'
"Yes. The trouble is they cry
great deal more from the unnatural irri
tstion. The artificial eys is made from
q bulb Of glass having a slight ovalit.
blown, on the end of rod of glas
about the size of a pencil. From tn
sphere thus blown a segment is fiat
tened out for the iris and pupil. A cir
cular patch OF black pigment in th
centre forms the pupil. The painting
of the iris is done with delicate ename
coIors, and then a bulb of clear crysta
glass is placed over it. The red vein
are traced with fine films OF red gIas
laid on and fused. Probably over 10
600 people in the United Statos wea
artificial eyes,
DR.. William Siemens devised an art
fetal eye which is sensitive to light an
to differences in color, gives signs {
fatigue when subjected to pIolOnge
action of light, and regains its strengt
after resting with closed lid; and, /
electromagnet attachment, may be mad
to close itself invOluntarily at a vivi
flash. Such an eve would be wort
having. 1t is well-knOwn, too, that Il
vibration of musical tones may by ord
nary conducting wires be transmittt
and delivered to the ear, and it remain
to be seen, says DIR. Siemens, wheth
light vibrations may not be transmittt
to the brain in the absence of the natur
eye.