The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-07-14
WHY WE LOSE OUR SIGHT.
Two Expert Oculists on the Eyes,
Their Maladies and Cures.


Their Maladies and Cures.
Copyright 1880
NEW YORK, July 13.-It was Bob Bur-
dette, that prince of later-day newspaper
wits who said that the babies of Boston
we're so intellectual when born that they
/ came into the world with spectacles on
| OF course this was said in Jest but il you
| will stop and consider for a moment, you
will find that nearly every other man.
woman and child you meet is wearing
glasses to-day.
| What does il mean?
That's exactly the question | asked Dr.
| Charles NJ Deauy, senior surgeon of the
| big New York Ophtnamic Hospital and
as' editor Of the Journal of Ophthat-
moLogu
I'm tell you what it means, )" he replied,
| throwing himself back on his couch and
| preparing to be comfortable. I'VE live in
| days of progress and enterprise. Formerly
| we did not possess the precise instruments
which are ours to-day. nor the education t.
! find out in every case whether the person
required spectacles Ten to fifteen years
ago, before the Metric system was adopted,
| the glasses commonly used then were no
| weaker than the old Eogli5h No. 60. AT
| present we find that u very large number
Of our cases which require the most atte1-
| ton re thos' winch before the adoption of
| the Metric system we had no glass to cover.
| The weakest glass was too strong for these
cases, and 1t L. only since the adoption OF
| the Metric system that we have to treat their
cases correctly with glasses. Further than
! that" continued the doctor, ''it is only of
| ats years that oculists have been suffi-
| GENTLY skilled to prescribe glasses for chill
dren who could not read with accuracy.
| Formerly during the crude state of the
| science II was difficult TO find out Just what
| glass the child needed Now by means of
| tho ophthaimascope we can learn the exact
| retraction of the eye by simply looking
| into 1t, and can thus discover almost pre-
cisely the correct number Of glass required
| Then again, formerly the people were not
| 50 we.l-educated as to the cause of certain
| symptoms as they are to-day. 1t is only of
late years that the ordinary man thinks of
| an oculist when persistent headache occurs.
| Formerly they thought of the stomach, or,
| indeed, anything IN the world except the
| real cause Nowadays the average layman
has been sufficiently informed about the
/ connection between headache and the eye
| to think of an ocuist if he suffers from per-
| Sistent headache symptoms
| Another reason is that whereas form
| erlY people wore spectacles when they felt
| the need Of them, it is known now that many
| people VINO do not feel the need of them
nevertheless should wear them. The squint
| oT cross-eye is very frequently produced, in
| the majority of cases, perhaps, by the nee
essity for spectacles, and when We find that
| a child has any of these symptoms, and re-
| quires a glass, the parents VIII let us put it
! on, where, otherwise, they would not, and
! thus where squint seems to be beginning,
| by putting on glasses we can stop 1t. If a
| case of cross eyes should bscome firmly
| fixed in the muscles we cannot cure it by
| means of glasses, but when in the incipient
ate we can frequently do good by putting
| on "A pair of suitable glasses
"ln the case of astigmatism,o continued
the doctor. 1--WE formerly did not consider
that a slight degree of astgmatism was
necessary TO correct with glasses. Now we
find that some of the most formidable
| symptoms are due to the very slightest
degrees OF astlgmatism. The glass-equiv-
alent to the Old English No. l44-which is
the weakest glass we are able to use now, and
/ which is so weak that it can hardly be
called lens, is found to remedy many
cases of aslgmation which uuder the old
| English numbering we never discovered,
because the highest glass was sixty Since
we have had the new Metric system with
weak glasses and the excellent means Of
discovering nstiCmatsm which we now pos
seSs, the number of cases prescribed for
this trouble has vastly increased In the
year 1876 in the New York Ophthalmic
hospital out of sos cases of refraction
only 2S,.were found to be astigmatic, and in
1888 out of :, 057 cases of refraction we had
of asug1natism 379, showing an increase of
about 10 per cent"
"What do you mean by the term astig-
matiSn, dOctorp
'Astigmatism" repeated the doctor.
Slightly raising his eyebrows "Well il is
that condition in which swo meridiaus Of
the eye at right angles are of different re-
fraction. The vertical meridian NAV re-
quire convex, and the horizontal con
cave lens, or a vertical meridian may re-
qulre a convex or a concave lens, aud the
horizontal meridian the same glass but
more of 1t, or one meridian may require Il
convex glass, the opposite q COncave glass
The first is called simple astlgmatism, the
second is compound astgmatism and the
third mixed astigmatism.r
WHAT progress has been made lately in
teaching Us how to properly care for the
eyesp
THE general public is worry much better
informed of late years on the needs of the
eye than formerly. Now in the eve hos
pital where the very lowest class of Do 3ple
come to be treated it is the commoneSt
thing in the world for patient of the most
ignorant class TO seat himself before the
doctor and say, Doctor. | have been hav-
ing a great deal of headache lately about
the eyes and l think must need glasses,
| dhu lulS often NheH tbe pau Mt IS not Old
enough to need glasses This shows an
education to a higher point than formerly
Given good pair eyes at birth, and
barring accidents, how long should sight
remain gool"
Until DEATH" promptly responded the
doctor. There is no natural condition
which destroys the sight. If nothing has
been done TO the eyes, and if the patient
started with good pair they should last
until DEATH
as ere any cure for blindnessg"
Blindness repeated the doctor in a
startled Tone that depends on wrat sort
of blindness you mean. Blindness which
is dueto the atrophy or destruction of the
optic nerve in any Of its courses, or which
is due to the atrophy of the brain centers of
sight, or which is due 20 the absolute de-
structioa OF the conducting or refracting
portion of the eye there is no cure, but for
blindness due TO the throwing out of NOR
bid material in the eye, or to temporary
pressure of the optic nerve much can be
done. The destruction Of the nerve cannot
be cured, but where there is anything to be
removed or EXCHANGED by the various oDer-