, 1888-06-20
NEAR SIGHTED PEOPLE.
A broadway optician Explains the Causes
and Remedies of MyopIa.

and Remedies of NIyopIa-
'1n no other city in the world can be
found 80 many people afflicted with my
opia IT e sightedness as right here In
New York, Z" said a Broadway optician a
few days since. 'More thar half the
population of big town are so af-
hicted, and the number Of persons who
wear spectacles or eyeglasses Is astonish-
ingly large, as Is evinced by an examina-
ton of the faces of the crowds which
surge along Broadway. h number of
sufferers from myopia is, 1 am sorry to
say, annually increasing, and not q few
of these are from our schools and col
leges."
'"To what do you attribute the preva-
lence of this partial blindness?" queried
the writer.
"f'ear sightedness arises from a num-
Der of causes, chief among which are
reading in the dusk of the evening, or
fatiguing the eyes in trying to read by
aid of a bad artificial illumination; read
ing while In a lying position, or with the
head thrust too far forward; the perusing
Of blurred or slovenly printed books, or
matter printed In a very small type. All
these and many other things conduce to
gradual decrease In the power of vision,
and If too greatly persisted in will finally
end in the total destruction of the sight.
1.-THE principal cause of the prevalence
of short sightedness (among our business
men at least), Is the pernicious habit SO
largely INDUCED in of reading newspa-
pers while riding In the surface carr or
omnibuses. The jolting or syvaying mo-
ton of the car or bus causes an unsteadi-
ness of hand, which makes the type ap-
pear blurred and uncertain. The steadier,
easy motion of the cars on the elevated
roads has done much toward the preser-
walton of the eyesight Of those who find
that they must read while en- route and
who patronize the aerial mode of
transit"
when does one become conscious of
falling visual power7" was asked.
Zone first begins to discover that he Is
losing his keenness of vision when the
signs along the streets and distant OBJ
jects are not easily discernible without a
conscious effort, accompanied by q pain
full ~straining and extension of the pupil.
When one is convinced that his eyesight
Is failing him he should not delay n mo-
ment before consulting an oculist."
sis not lear sightedness sometimes
hereditary"
II believe hereditary influence to be
OF great effect in causing short sight. ]
have known large families, whose MEM
bers, from the youngest to the oldest,
were afflicted with weak eyes or a too
short range of vision. The sight can be
preserved and prevented from growing
poorer only by the use of proper glasses
at the proper time. A dangerous mis-
folra 100 oeto,. r.oIo L., +l-A --z----
glasses which are either too weak or,
is worse, too strong for the require
ment of the eye"
Continuing the optician remarked that:
"Presbyopia OF SO called far sighted
ness supervenes earlier with those who
are constantly at work than with other
persons, and as soou as it does convex
glasses should be at once resorted to,
without which the muscle of accommo-
dation would be fatigued to no purpose.
At first they should be used for working
in the evening, after the fatigue of the
day, but a long sighted person should
only use spectacles for looking at near
objects, not at far ones"
Speaking of spectacles and eyeglasses,
the optician further remarked that but
few lenses were made in the United
StateS, ana tno5e only OF the poorest
quality. Said he: 1.-THE best lenses are
imported in n rough state from France,
and cut and polished after arrival In this
country. Glasses are numbered from five
to fifty; those below No. 8 are worn only
by persons undergoing treatment for
cataract OIL other ocular diseases. As
tigmatism is one Of these. Astigmatism
is an abnormal development of sight
power In n of the eyes, with a cores
ponding weakness of vision In the other.
1t is often mistaken for myopia, and so
treated by ignorant men who pose as
ophthalmologists, or, more properly
speaking, not oculists at all.
SIN conclusion / will only say that q
mar can part with n leg, arm or other
member of his body and eventually be-
come accustomed to his loss, and may, II
he be of a philosophical TURF of mind,
manage to suck much nectar from life's
flower, but the loss of sight units a mar
alike for pleasure and for duty, and rel
moves forever the one thing needful to
the most complete and fullest enjoyment
of his existence. II there Is one thing
more than another which 1 would strive
to impress On the minds of young people
1t Is the advice, Take care Of your
eyes.