The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1891-04-24
INCREASE OF BLINDNESS.


me Loss OF sig'se Is Often Due to the
Neglect OF Parents and Nurses.
'The latest statistics show that
blindness Is on the increase in the
United States" says DIR. Guernsey.
'"This increase in New York state is at
tributable to the failure of carrying
out the law which requires midwives to
report to the board of health all cases
of blennorrhea In new born children.
In fact the law is dead letter, which
Is great pity, because in the asylums
for the blind there are more people
who have become blind from having
been neglected when infants than from
any other cause. This purulent in
aammation of the infants eyes, which
Is SO often neglected by the poor, is bad
for everybody in the house, owing to
its decidedly infectious character.
Children should not be admitted to
schools If they have any contagious
disease of the eye, to detect which re-
quires expert examination, for it can
not always be seen; for example,
granular lids contain an infectious
secretion. Just as children in the pub
lie schools are required to show a GER
tificate of vaccination before they can
gain admission, SO should children
likewise be required to prove that the
condition of their eyes is not such as to
endanger the eyes of their little COM
sades.
Most persons are born far sighted;
some remain so throughout life; the
sight of others becomes normal, and
still others become near sighted. Amer
leans as a class are not so near sighted
as people of older civilizations. The
Germans are the most near sighted
people, probably because they study
the most and with the poorest light.
There are at best very few normal eyes
we are all of us generally either near
sighted or far sighted. Color blind
ness is at times congenital, in which
case it is incurable, but color blindness
may be acquired later in life, and then
it yields to treatment. Statistics show
that about per cent. of all men are
color blind, but only 2 per cent. of all
women.
'"Too great care cannot be exercised
in the marine service and in the rail
road service not to employ the color
blind, for their inability to distinguish
green from red causes them to con-
found the danger signal, to the great
danger of the travelling public.
II want to enter my protest against
badly lighted horse cars, in which read
ing is both difficult and dangerous. In
travelling by rail I do not think that
much harm is ordinarily done to the
eyes by reading unless the car shakes a
good deal. When the jolting move
ment is easy it is rhythmical, so to
speak, and you can almost foresee each
jolt and adapt yourself to it. 1t is too
much of hardship to forbid reading
in the cars. unless the road is very
shaky.
'"Those who travel an hour a day
should not be debarred from informing
themselves of what is going on in the
world. And the same may be said
about reading by artificial light in our
homes. Of course it is much better for
the eyes to read during the day; no
body can deny that. But it will not
do to lay down hard and fast rule not
to read at all at night.
1--WE must take some risk; we can't
put ourselves under glass cases. 1t is
with the eye as it is with everything
else. If the body is sound and the eye
is good I can see no objection to read
ing moderately at night under good
light. How many people do their best
work at night when everything is quiet
in the house and they are not dis
turbed. Epoch.