The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-03-11
A NEW DISEASE.
1t Is Known as "Typewriters
Insanity"
And Affects Those Who Manipulate the
Typowritor-What q Learned Doc
tor Says Regarding the
Affection.

Pretty typewriters in danger of losing
their reasoni A new mental disease
has been noticed by many physicians in
the past few years, and it has increased
with the use of typewriters in all de-
partmcnts of commercial and profess
sional work.
1t usually begins with slight but
persistent headache. Then gradually
the memory fails, SO that persons af-
fected become absent-minded to such q
degree that they are scarcely to be
trusted alone. Dyspepsia, with all it's
horrors, follows, and finally the patient
becomes untitled for all mental exer-
ton.
This is n description of typcwriters'
insanity given to reporter of the New
York Morning Journal by DR.. Charles,
Higgins, Of Brooklyn, who has had
several such cases under his charge.
Tho disease is as real as writer's
cramp," the doctor said, "although
when its cause was first suggested to be
the use of the typewriter it was
laughed at rs absurd. People laughed
| at writer's cramp in the Same way
twenty years ago."
How can the use of typewriter
| NduoS W oPSpSAb' aohCO InO IC DOIlGT-
"Wcll, to explain that" said the doc
tor, III 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-
heX actions. That is, that condition
which affects one portion of the body
produced similar or opposite effect on
another portion, just us n 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 eye will cause the other to
smart and become inAamed through
sympathy"
Here the doctor produced diagrams
Of the keyboards of half dozen of the
prominent makes of typewritcrs.
Now, as you see," he went on,
these keyboards 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.
Many of these l1cyboards are eighteen
inches long by foot deep. and most of
them are larger than the page of an
ordinary book. Now | will make little
diagram to show you where the great
strain on the nervous system comes
from"
Here the doctor drew rough sketch
of the human eye in section and of the
keyboard OF popular typewriter.
You can easily see that in the cf-
fort to perceive all the keys at once,
when working rapidly, the eye cndcav-
ors TO adjust itself to a focus that will
cover the entire keyboard. But this is
impossible, SD the mirror ut the back of
the eye, called the rctina, is constantly
changing the lenses in front of the eye
so that it can get the objects distinctly
impressed upon it.
Sin the diagram have only shown
four different focuses" continued the
doctor. but when you multiply them
by the number of keys on the four rows
and count that the spaces between the
keys are about an inch lower than the
tops of the keys themselves, you can
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,." DR.. Higgins went on, "has
estimated that in five hours work on n
typewriter an ordinary expert operator
will have to change the focus Of the
lenses Of the eye at least forty-seven
million times!
Now. the human eye was never in
tended to do this" asserted the doctor,
land the strain on the little muscles
which move these lenses is enor-
nous. 1t soon has reflex action on
the nerves, and this finally irritates the
brain to such degree that it produces
typewriters' insanity"
lis there no cure for this trouble,
doctor?" asked the reporter.
"Oh, ycsl" he rejoined. REST will eff
feet a perfect cure, and sometimes a
pair of eyeglasses, suited to the eyes
that are naturally perfect. afford a
great relief"
Gould you suggest any improvement
In typewriters to lessen the strain ON
the eycs?"
IL think could" concluded Dr. Hig-
gins. "a typewriter with keyboard
like piano or something approaching
it would be wonderful thing for this
trouble. Pianists become expert on q
straight fat keyboard, and can see no
reason why typewriters should not"
Deaths Among Pensioners.