The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-02-02
CARING FOR TIE eyes.
Many Valuable Hints From
an 0phthalmic Surgeon.
TEN RULES 10 REMEMBER.
Work on T~ypewriters Sometimes
lnjurious-Effect Of Tobacco
and Alcohol ON the
Vision.

In 1890 L. Webster Fox, Md, lee.
tured before the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia, on the care of the eye
sight during infancy and up to adult
life. Here and abroad the address
or extracts from it were published in
scientific and medical journals and
excited deep interest. Last year DIR.
Fox supplemented that lecture with
one on eyesight in middle life and old
age, and the latter has been published
in the journal of the Franklin Insti-
tdte. A summary of it will dou btless
interest many people.
In the second lecture, as in the first,
DIR. Fox says tobacco and alcohol are
the two most prominent agents
which not only prevent, but also
destroy special senses. ut is a
well authenticated fact" he adds,
s'that boys who have INDUCED ID
the use of tobacco are not mentally
and physically as strong as those who
abstain; not only have medical men
recognized the tendency to a depres-
sion of the vital force in boys and
young men who are constant users OF
tobacco, but athletic trainers will
neve select their boats crew from
such ranks. These men know that
tobacco weakens the heart.
1.-The excessive use OF tobacco not
only weakens the muscles of the eye,
but also produces a lowering of the
sharpness of vision and a form OF
eolor-blindness. | can recall an In
stance of this peculiar form of blind
ness. Prof. Chisolm, of Baltl-
more, some years ago had a patient,
a planters wife from n of the
Southern States, consult him for de-
feetive vision, and who was
also blind to certain colors. Prot.
Chisolm, after making an examlna-
ton with the ophthalmoscope, and
who up to this stage of the examlna-
ton had not asked her anything as to
personal habits, turned to her and
said:-S1f you were a man L should
pronounce your case one OF tobacco
amblyopia, or color-blindness due to
excessive use of tobacco The lady,
completely surprised at the keenness
of The observation, confessed that she
was an excessive smoker; she and her
husband lived alone in a retired part
of part of the country, and in the
evening after dinner she would light
her husbands pipe, ut first taking
but one Whit; as time vent on she
s would increase the number of whif1s,
until she gradually became addicted
to the use OF tobacco"
DIR. Fox does not condema smoking
in toto, but explains that any exces-
slve indulgence in smoking is sure to
produce evil results, while the chew
ing OF tobacco must be condemned al
ways.
Concerning liquors, he says the
drinking of beer or wine acts in a
deleterious manner upon that part of
the eye called the chrystalline lens.
Excessive wine and beer drinkers are
prone to have cataracts before they
have passed the forty-ffth mile post
in their lives, while whisky drinkers
are subject to affections of the retina
and optic nerve. Dr.. Fox also enters
his protest as an opthalmlc surgeon
against the indiscriminate use and
abuse of quinine. Cosmetics placed
in the eye to heighten its lustre, eye
balm containing lead, and the dyeing
of the hair and eyebrows also have a
serious eneCG OH Tile SInIt.
TYPEWRITERS HARD ON THE sEYES.
Typewriters have much trouble
with their eyes. owing to the concen-
tration of vision required to produce
accurate copy, DIR. Fox says the ar
%rangement of the keys of the machine
has much to do with the matter. Some
sssof the best typewriters have keys cir
in form, with the letters printed
! on white paper covered with glass. On
account of their arrangement, shape
and color, they are very confusing,
having a tendency to run together.
One machine has its keyboard ar
ranged in the form a semicircle, each
key being made of ebony wood and
shaped somewhat like a piano key,
with tine letter cut on it and filled
with white enamel. The thirty keys
represent, collectively, ninety char
acters, having fewer keys and more
characters than any other machine,
and yet the keys are made of such
material, color and shape that they
do not tire the eyes in using them.
DIR. Fox condemns, of course, read
ing in cars. Persons who have to
earn a livelihood with the pen should
write on paper tinted green, blue or
y6llOW. GI6uCu dutDOTS USE green
tinted paper, and say that they are
greatly relieved from eye strain by
doing SO. 1t is essential to preserve
good sight by such means as will not
interfere with good health, and the
first step in that direction is to have
plenty of light aud air; not the heat
ed atmosphere of the average Ameri-
can business place or home. This
high temperature helps to ruin peo-
pies eyes more than than we like to
admit; too much light, especially if it
be reflected, is particularly injurious;
it produces an over stimulation to the
retina. DIR. Fox says he finds that a
lesser quantity of light is less injuri-
Dus to an eye than an excessive bright
light. For example, miners have less
visual defect than machinists who
work under electric lights.
FORCING THE MUSCLES.
Whenever a man or woman about
forty-fiye yeare of age finds himself