Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1890-08-31
POOR EYEsIGHT THE RULE.
How the Eyes Are Injured in Infancy and
Youth-An Opticians Talk.
NelO YORK Times.

Youth-An Opticians Talk.
Ne10 York Times.
There are more persons, troubled
with defective eyesight than you would
suppose" said an optician. ''In fact,
perfect vision is exceptionally rare with
a large proportion of the inhabitants of
all big cities. Just observe what num-
Der of people you will meet wearing
spectaceS or eyeglasses on any crowded
thoroughfare. They are not elderly,
either; indeed, most of them are young,
and If you go through our public schools
you will see an astonishing number of
children wearing glasses.
bad eyesight is often caused by the
neglect of proper attention in very
early age. The eyes are more sensitive
to light than during adult life, yet it is
nothing uncommon for a mother or
nurse to expose the eyes of an infant to
the glare of the sun for hours at a time.
Serious results often follow this negi-
gence, and large majority of the blind
undoubtedly owe the loss of their sight
to just such neglect during infancy.
when children are growing up their
sight is much impaired In dark city
schOolrooms, where they must strain
their eyes looking at blackboard work
at distance. Besides this, too much
cannot be said in condemnation of the
practice of allowing children at night to
study or read books that are badly
printed. Daylight is Gods light and
man cannot improve upon it. Night
work, and especially reading, is very in
furious to the sight, and will wear
child's or mans eyes out quicker than
anything else.
"All persons who find their sight fail
ing should procure glasses. but not
themselves select pair, for Il man may
injure his eyes irreparably by using I'M
suitable glasses. When you require
glasses always go to good optician.
who will test your eyes and ft them
with proper glasses. IL may be that
your eyes are not pairs, so TO speak;
that is, that the foci are not coincident
in length, and therefore you must have
a different glass for each eye.
Now" continued the optician, open
ing large mahogany case, velyet-lined.
and with several hundred partitions.
each holding lenses of different lengths
or focal lengths, 'these are standards.
They come from firm in Paris whose
lenses are the finest and the most cele-
brated in the world. They embrace all
numbers and varieties, cOncave, con-
veX, plane, bi-convex and bi-concave.
cylindrical. and others, all graduated on
dioptric scale. Most people under
stand the terms convex and cOncave,
but few know that cylindrical lens is
one so ground as To meet a peculiar de-
| feet in the eye. 1t is when the visual
ray is so DETECTED that an object is dis
tortcd, and the lens must exactly cOun-
tcract this abnormal condition, so that
most cylindrical glasses have to be
specially ground. When customer
comes to me TO have a pair Of lenses
fitted to his eyes, put him at distance
where he can see the largest letter on
that card.
"You see there are printed on it
number of letters of different sizes. /
request my customer to walk backward
or forward until he can see this particu-
lar letter distinctly. Then ] try him
with smaller letters, and can thus form
general idea where to begin on the
lenses themselves. Then test his eyes
with the standard, and when ! have
found the one that suits his sight best
try both his eyes. and If they are both
alike in focal distance my task is done.
! then take the standard number and
have the proper lenses put in such
frames as my customer fancieS."
"What are the great essentials in
lenses, as regards their value, as an adj
junct to Sight?'
First, their purity: second, their per-
lection of grinding and polishing, and,
thirdly, their perfect ccntering and ac-
curatc settling in the frame. As to
cheap glasses don't speak in a bust
mes way. but as a matter of fact-they
are very injurious, because, of course, no
pains are taken to have them properly
centred, and their use is liable to
bring on serious injury to the eyes of all,
and especially the young"
What do you sell most Of, spectacleS
or eyeglasses"
That is a difficult question to an
Swer. The eyeglass perhaps IS the most
popular because it is less trouble TO adj
just in the street, store or Office than il
is TO tuck the ends of the frames Of a
pair of spectacleS behind your ears, and
besides, some people only need glasses
when they are reading, writing or ex-
aiming anything closely, but can't see
with them on in general. To all peo-
ple-and especially the young-who are
compelled to wear glasses continually |
would, however, always recommend the
SpectacleS. Thay may
not look SO neat or be so quickly pene-
trative as eyeglasses. but they don't
hurt or diSfigurc the bridges Of the
nose, and are far more healthy than the