Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-10-15
DIFFERENCES IN EYEsIeHT.


It's Varied Powers in Different Nations
Due to Physical Conditions.
It is possible that slight differences may
exist in the seeing powers of different ma
tons, due to the effect of physical conditions;
thus the inhabitants of mountainous districts
and of dry, elevated table lands may have
better sight than jewellers in low, humid and
level regions, although just the reverse may
be the case. Among European nations the
Germans are generally supposed to have
weak eyes, owing, some imagine, to their ex-
cessive indulgence in tobacco, while others
attribute the supposed decay to the form of
type used in their books, which requires
closer looking at than ours in reading. That
they will deteriorate still further in this di-
rection- and from being specialized people
become blind one, to the joy Of their enc
miles, is not likely to happen, and probably
the decadence has been great deal exagger-
ated
Animals living in darkness become near
sighted, and then nearer sighted still, and so
on progressively until the vanishing point Is
reached. In a community or nation similar
decline might begin from much reading Of
German books, or perpetual smoking of pipes
.
known cause; but the decay could not pro-
gress far, because there is nothing in man to
take the place of sight as there is in the blind
cave rats and fishes and insects. And if we
could survey mankind from China to Peru
| with all the scientific appliances which are
| brought to bear on the board school children
| in London and on the nation generally, the
differences in the powers of vision in the
| various races nations and tribes would prob
| ably appear very insignificant. The mistake
| which eye specialists and writers on the eye
| make is that they think too much about the
| eye. When they affirm that the conditions
| of our civilization are highly injurious to the
sight do they mean all the million conditions
or sets of conditions embraced by our system,
| with the infinite variety of occupations and
modes of living which men have, from the
| lighthouse keeper TO the worker underground,
whose day is the dim glimmer of the miners
lampi
AN organ exercised beyond its wont will
| grow and thus meet increase Of demand by
increase of supply" Herbert Spencer says,
but, he adds, there is limit soon reached
beyond which it is impossible to 60" This
increase of demand with use is everywhere
|
ing to our work and way of life, and the eye
is in no worse case than the other organs
There are among us many cases Of heart
complaint; civilization, in such cases, ha:
put too great strain on that organ, and il
has reached the limit beyond which it can
not go. And so with the eye. The tota
number of defective among us Is no doub
very large, for we know that our system O
life retards-it cannot effectually prevent
the healthy action of natural selection. Ma
ture pulls one way and We pull the other
eompassionately trying to saw the unfi
from the conset uences of their unfitness
The humane instinct compels US, but tn
cruel instinct of the savage, who hates tn
sick and the unfit as the inferior animals do
is less painful to contemplate than that mis-
taken or perverted compassion which seek
to perpetuate unfitness, and IN the interest o
suffering individuals infiicts a lasting injur'
on the race. 1t is beautiful and sacre,
thing to minister to the blind and to lea,
them, but horrible thing to encourage then
TO marry and transmit the miserable bin
condition to their posterity. Yet this
very common.-Longman's Magazine