The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-10-12
WONDERS OF THE EYE.
THE CURIOUS THINGS ABOUT NAT
URE'S CAMERA.


gers of Going to an Optician for a
Spectacle Prescription-"O Old Sight,"
Near" and Far Sight"
From the Washington Star.
81 would like to examine the interior of
the eye," said the oculist. But when he
perceived slight shrinking on the part of
the reporter, who assumed for the time the
role of patient, he smilingly said: "You
need not be alarmed; it will not hurt you a
particle"
Then. picking up little disk-shaped mir
TOR, with hole through tho center, he led
the patient into dark closet, and, after
lighting a bright gas jet, told him to sit
down on the chair Immediately beneath it.
Next he himself sat down opposite, so that
the knees of the two touched, and held the
small, round looking-glass In front
of his own eye, like an eyeglass, with
the mirror side outward, in such man
ner that it reflected a ray from the gas Jet
straight into the patients eye through the
pupil He could direct the ray easily
enough, inasmuch as he was looki z along
it through the small hole that pierced the
center of the disk. If you will hold big,
fat button-mold up to your eye and look
through it at the eye of person seated in
front of you, you will get notion of the
way in which the oculist operated. Sup
pose the button-mold has quick-sllvered
glass on the surface turned toward the OBJ.
iect and you will perceive how easy it
would be to throw ray reflected from a
light above the other persons head directly
into that other PERSONS eye, aud to watch,
through the hole IN the button-mold,
WHATEVER THAT RAY REVEALED.
This was what the oculist was doing with
the mirror disk. The ray it reflected en-
tered the patients eye, through the pupil,
and lighted up the interior very much as a
dark room is lighted up by bulI's-eye Ian
tern shining through a doorway from out
side. Just as the lantern might be turned
about this way and that TO illuminate vari-
Gus parts of the darkened chamber beyond
the doorway, SO the little looking-glasS was
manipulated between the forefnger and
thumb of the physician as he held it before
his own eye in such manner as to reveal
10 his view every portion of the inside of the
ocular camera-ob scura- such the eye is {;
very much like the camera of the pho
tographer IN its construction and mode of
working; and, by gravy it has been found
out quite recently that the so-called ocular
purplen in the eye actually produces the
pictures of objects seen on the nerve-screen
that lines the organ by chemical process
very much like that employed by the pho
t0grapher to bring out the lines of his
negative. Possibly, some day, by studying
natuce's method, the sun-print artist may
learn how to photograph colors as the eye
does Who knows9
The patient was very much relieved at
length to hear the oculist say that there
was thing serious the matter.
II observe a slight infa nmation of the
inner coat of the left eye," remarked the
physician, las well as a mildly hyper4mic
condition of the lids, both of which little
troubles have undoubtedly been occasloned
by the glasses you wear Now, may | ask
where you got those glassesp
AT so and-so's, the optician," replied the
APPLICANT for treatment.
HE ADvERTIsEs TO FIT THEM WITHOUT
CHARGE"
What do you consider to be the business
of an opticians"
Grinding glasses and fitting them to
frames mostly, | suppose"
Precisely. In, other words, he is a
mechanic. OF the eye, its structure and
pathology he has scarcely more knowledge
than you have. And yet he ADVERTISE
though there are some opticians who are too
honest to do SOTO perform what is nearly
the most difficult work the eye doctor has
to perform; namely, to fit people with
glasses. 1t takes years of hard study for
an ophthalmic surgeon TO learn how to fit
glasses. No two persons eyes are quite
alike, and few patients have both eyes tine
same; IN each case dozen different possible
defects have to be looked out for and RENE
died by glasses ground in special ways if
trey exist. 1t is apt to take an
aour Or more for skilled oculist to
mud out just what glasses you require, but
the confident ician will call your atten-
uon to few rows OF. differentiated letters
al the other end of the shop, ask You what
rows you can read, and sell you pair of
spectacles accordingly, off-hand. OF course.
II Is always more or less wild guess on the
opticians part, infinitely more apt to be
wrong than right, and, if you will consider
tnat every bit OF error as to fiji in the
glasses means just so much continual strain
upon the eyes of the wearer, you will see
what an Immense amount If harm must be
done IN this way. Why, have known
19pIlclans TO prescribe near-sighted glasses
LOT over-sighted eyes, and vice versa"
SHOULD ONE, THEN, FoRswEAR oPr1-
CIANSm
Hardly. The thing to do. if YOU need
glasses, IS to go to the ophthalmic surgeon
Ior the prescription, as you would % to
any other physician If you had pain, and
then take the prescription to the optician.
VINO Is the eye Doctors apothecary, as it
were to be filled. The glasses are prepared
LOT you'll need be, specially ground-and
you nave the satisfaction of knowing that
tney are precisely what you require. Tie
"H aW5, business will cost you SIS, perhaps. s"
nat is the little round mirror called
WIN which You examine my eyes insidep'
aeAeu the patient while the oculist was l.
sageo IN lifting glasses in various strengths
''iS ~ huge nose frame for trial.
:. 10 that little Instrument" responded
r roe surgeon, is due nearly all of t % prog
fqSS made In ophthalmic science since the
lays Oh the ancient Egyptians. g. 900 wears
aeu AND yet, as you see, it is nothing but
:. small, round mirror With a hole through
w W, ~ ~ is called the 'ophthalmoscope,' and
f Fas invented by Helmholtz in 1862 So
oh Oh" years ago as that very little was known
to- ao " the eye beyond what the old Egyp-
VOL r@u pn yslclans were acquainted with, They
o ote familiar with the structure of the
na sSan, through dissection, and they even
d fialUrned operations for cataract. That
tbo you Know, is merely clouding of
tbo VI EsGalllne lens which lies just behind
mi little hole in the iris, called the
Of ptt, and serves to bring the rays
4 mn H;isn0 that enter the eye through the
8 f f IL 70 focus on the nerve screen behind.
obio,.a 1 this focus that the picture of the
RI, ~ " seen is formed, like photograph.
81 CO.. r' the lens, which is like a wee bit of
csn,o e4 glass, is rendered Opaque Dy any