Tombstone epitaph., 1892-03-13
A NEW DISEASE.
It Is Known as "Typewriters
 Insanity"
And Affects Those Who Manipulate the Typ.writer-what a Learned Doe tor Says Regarding the
 Affection.
Pretty tvpewriters in danger of losing

1rtltN tNlteNTitttS III udiiptF or IDslfiR ! their reason! A new mental disease has been noticed by many physicians in the pest few years. and it has increased with the use of typewnters in all de- partGents of commercial and profes- sional work.
 It usually begins with slight but persistent headache. Then gradually the memory fails, so that persons af- fected become absent-minded to such degree that they are scarcely to be trusted alone. Dyspepsia, with all its horrors, follows, and finally the patient becomes unfitted for all mental exer- tion.
 This is description of typewriters' insanity given to reporter of the New York Morning Journal by Dr. Charles Higgins, of Brcy.slyn, who has had several such cases ander his charge.
 The disease is as real as writers cranp," tine doctor said, although when its cause was first suggested to be the use of the typewriter it was laughed at as absurd. People laughed at writers cramp in the same way twenty years ago"
 How can the use of typewriter cause SlttfSlA- dShIG Nit
 ''Wen. to explain that" said the doc tor, '.I should have to go over all that | We know of that marvellous telegraph plant which every human being carries ! about with him, known as the nervous system. Specialists who have studied nerve diseases discovered years ago that | there were what we now know as re- | fiex actions. That is, that a condition | which affects one portion of the body i produced similar or opposite effect on another portion, just as a telephone | wire Is made useless by the induced | current from an electric light wire. | Perhaps the most familiar example of | this is the fact that piece of grit or | dirt in an eve will cause the other tO smart and become infamed through sympathy"
 Here the doctor produced diagrams of the keyboards of half dozen of the prominent makes of typcwriters- | NOW, as you see.' he went on, ! ''these keyboaris consist of round or | hexagonal keys, about half an inch in diameter. They are white with black letters in the center, and they stand out against the black background. | MdIlN OI Intst btsItS sit inches long by 2 foot deep, and most of them are larger than the page of an ordinary book. Now l will make A little diagram to show you Where the great
 strain on the nervous system comes
 from"
 Here the doctor drew a rough sketch of the human eye in section and of the
 keyboard of popular typewriter. '.You can easily see that in the ef- fort to perceive all the keys at once, when working rapidly, the eye endeav-
 CTS to adjust itself to focus that will
 cover the entire key board. But this is impossible, so the mirror at the back ot the eye, called the retina, Is constantly
 changing the lenses in front of the eye l so that it can get the objects distinctly l impressed upon it.
 .'In the diagram have only showr four different focuses" continued the
 doctor, but when you multiply then
 by the number of keys or the four rows , and count that the spaces between tho . keys are about an inch lower than the . tops of the keys themselves, you car . imagine the vast number of focuses that , reach the eye and the amount of work the lenses Of that delicate organ must , do to keep pace with them. . Prof. Hayes, the expert of Phila
 delphia,,n Dr. Higgins went on, "ha:
 estimated that in five hours work on ;
 typewriter an ordinary expert operator r will have to change the focus of th'
 lenses of the eye at least forty-seveI - million timesi
 , Now, the human eye was never in 2 tended to do this" asserted the doctor : and the strain on the little muscles 9 l which move these lenses is enor C nous It soon has reflex action oi F the nerves, and this finally irritates tn, F brain to such degree that it produce e typewriters' insanity"
 r "Is there no cure for this trouble V doctor?" asked the reporter. e ''Oh. yes.'' he rejoined. Rest will c!
 feet q perfect cure, and sometimes
 pair of eyeglasses, suited to the eye
 that are naturally perfect, afford
 great relief"
 Could you suggest any improvement
 in typewriters to lessen the strain o
 the eyes?"
 ''I think I could" concluded Dr. Hig
 gins. "A typewriter with keyboar
 like piano or something approachin
 it would be wonderful thing for thi
 trouble. Pianists become expert on straight flat keyboard, and can see n
 reason why typewriters should not"