The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-11-13
THE EGISAND INTELLIGENCER.
BEL AIR, ND, NOVEMBER 10, 1896.
HELPING THE EYES.
HOW EYEGLASSES WERE ACCIDEN-
TALLY DISCOVERED.

a Find of King Charles III That Proved
Very Fo-tunate-The Wearing of Glasses
Became Fad In Englnnd-How the Pub
lie Mind Has Changed on This Subject.
The study Of the eye is one Of the most
intricate known to science, and yet one OF
the most enchanting and abSorbingly in
tcrcsting to those who pursue it with any
degree Of success. New beauties and Won
dcrS arc developed every day as the oculist
progresses with his studies.
Now that the study has advanced far, it
is interesting to look back upon the work
which has been accomplished-a mere start
in the study. The time wns when there
was no aid to defective vision, and very
few who now use glasses ever dreamed
that their discovery was duo to an accident
and the fact that n crowned head was near
sighted.
When young Charles Stuart, afterward
Charles II Of England, escaped to France
with his head he became Il pensioncr of
tho great Louis XIV. While living his
indolsnt and dissolute life in Cologne he
met an expert artisan in glass, and acct
tlentally looking through small lens be-
longing to this workman he found that it
RICullN hi' WY iiiip'AiNSN 'A''''A''
Tho young prince was born with myopic-
ustigmatism irregular near sight). BY
mathematical calculation based upon the
csude and heavy lenses he is said to have
finally worn, which are now in tho British
museum, his vision was found to be about
twentieth of normal sight.
Ho and the artisan were so impressed
with the possibilities as revealed by the
H. no. cd in, no yrprlyShprN
that the latter from that day gave his
whole time and the former all the thought
he was capable of exercising to this work.
Tho name of this Frenchman is not
known, although he was probably the first
optician. When Charles was recalled to
England and crowned as Charles II, he
took this artisan with him, together with
several Others that he had found in France.
After establishing his London workshop
without regard to cost he ransacked all
Europo fer still other artisans in glass
until he had secured about 90 1t is said
that us many as 5000 lenses were made in
this shop for the kings eyes before he got
what he wished and what gave him per-
feet vision. His gay and dissoluto court
1T once followed his example by attempt
ing to wear glasses without regard to
their necessity, but as majority of them
were young and had not overworked their
ewes as students do in this age glasses
were, as rule, unnecessary.
The fashion originated from necessity,
and the king met it through his persist
once and the sacrifice of many thousands
of pounds sterling and with many thou
sand trials through art alone. The science
of refraction was not then in its present
state of perfection to direct tho artisan
how to grind lenses to fit tho kings eyes
at one effort Indeed it did not then exist.
This fashion soon became Il fad, with Il
disregard 10 the peculiar necessity that
originated it. Yet, without science to di-
rect them what to grind, the artisans be-
came rich, not only in English pounds,
but in experience of mechanical optics.
Tho way was thus paved for the almost
pcrfcct science of optics that now exists as
,yell as the art of grinding lenses. lis
IN i'll wind that blows no good. Tho
GOOD, accidentally 1t would seem, that fol-
lowed Charlcy's exile to France has been
worth MANY times over the loss of his IA
TIERS head, tho fear of the same result to
himself having been his incentive to flight.
Should glasses be worn when they add
to vision or to comfort is no longer QueS-
ton any more than it is question that IL
properly fitting brace should be applied i'll
Potts disease 20 lessen the weight of tho
SPINAL column as it bears down upon the
diseased yertcbr;r To wear glasses when
they prove to be beneficial is no longer
considered affected or foolish any moro
than the use of cano should be when it
assists lame ankle.
The old idea That their use should be
postponed as long as possible, even to the
sacrifice of comfort and good vision, and
often to hclathy lids or Of perfect nervous
functions, has boon long since exploded in
the minds of all who reason. Tho old
adage founded upon ignorance was, Re-
frain from glasses just as long as you pos
sbly can, because when you once begin to
wear them you cannot leave them off. "
If will not be substituted for "can
not" in this old saying, it would more
nearly approach the truth, since, whom
glasses arc needed and are accurately fitted
they will not DO given up because of the
assistance they render to vision, the COM
fort they give in reading ard in the long
and continued use of the eyes they render
possible. The flippant remark that is yet
so universally popular, "Oh, l am not old
enough to wear glasses" would now seem
too silly for any one to make.
Like many other sayings, however, that
we have fallen heir to, this one has come
down to us from that remote period when
our ancestors had no other, or rather de-
reloped no other, errors of refraction than
the one we call presbyopia (old vision).
But this condition of the eye is purely IL
physiological or n natural ono, since it is
caused by the hardening of the lens coin
cidont with the hardening of the bones,
gray hairs and other evidences Of approach
ing senility
Our ancestors did not so often tax their
eyes sufficiently TO bring out their pntho-
logical errors-the imperfect focusing pow
crs of their eyes-by much study and close
work, as is the custom in this day and
age.-Atlanta Constitution.