Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1889-02-14
FoR THosE We WE sPEcrAo.
Why Physicians. Not Opticians. Sh-.
Prescribe Eye-Gls.ses.

a Boston correspondent writes.
Boston one finds curiouslv advar
ideas on almost every subject Far
stance, the best opticians here viii
make pair of speetacles for
toner, if they can help it, unle..
brings a physicians prescription
the same. Elsewhere it is usual
these tradesmeD TO advertise +
they viii themselves fit people 3
glasses free of charge. OF course
common practice is not only Of dom.
ful honesty but a great evil as Il.
For the opticion, being a simply r
chanic, cannot be supposed to kp
anything about the eye. It's his IN.
ness to grind lenses and tit them r,
frames. How should he have any
quaintance with the structure and (.
thology of that wonderful organ.
treatment Of which requires such
that men of science who profes,
know about it devote their lives 10 h.
study of that subject alone? Aud ers
they assert that nothing tests ,bs
deXterity so much as the task Of 81
viding patient with proper gla,,e
Each eye must be fitted separately I'll
one is APT 10 differ from the other. p,
aminations has also to be made with
view to discovering if any peculiaHr
such ds astigmRtism-a variation iBf
curvature of the ball-eXists, in orj.
that it may be provided for Sons
times il takes the expert oculist hogs
to complete the operation.
But the optcian-outside Of Bos.n
will set you down in a chair. ri
all the confidence of perfect ignom19
1 and, after bidding you tell him vr
/ YOU can see of some letters in as,or
/ sizes at the other end Of the shop. ws
| the aid of various lenses which bea
| fers YOU from "a box, will declare ts
| he has got your measure and YOU
spectacles viii be ready such and sud
a day. Shall he send them home d
will YOU call3
Once in "A while hemay strike it ca,
rectly, though it would be simply d
/ accident if he did so. 1t is a prs
guess he makes in every case. Asll
yet ninety-nine persons in every lG|
/ viii 90 to an opticlan 10 have gas,s
/ prescribed, in many cases to save %.
/ oculists fee, but more often becauQ
they do not know any better Il i
/ like going to an apotheeary for q.
agnosis - worse, for the dealer II
drugs not infrequently possesses soma
knowledge of medicine. In Boston
this sort of thingis better understood
and YOU are requested to bring yorI
prescription from the eye-doctor Be.
fore the spectatle-maker viii fill you'll
I order.
BY the way, did you ever see wha,8|
called an ophthalmoscope-a litt.el.
strumeut from the invention of which
about fifty years ago ocular scieaa
NAV almost be said todate? Like many.
other great things, il is exceeding SIM.
pie. being nothing more than a small
disk-shaped mirror with a little hole
/ through the center. IN using ii lLs
oculist holds this disk before his own
eve between the thumb and forehugG.
so rs to look through the liuIe hold
from the back. Facing him at close
rBnge sits the patient, with a lighted
gas-iet over his head, looking steadIJ
at the doctors nose. The latter ca,E
with the mirror-disk ray of REFLECTED
gaslight into the subjects eye throua
the little hole called the pupil, q
which the whole interior of the orgm
IS brightly illuminated. Thus thc h
orator is able to examine it within
/ through the hole in the mirror atu