Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-12-09
THE GLASS EYE.
II Is Good Thing TO Have
"Stumpv Under IL.
Hondon Standard.)

The cost Of an artificial eye made to
order varies from Sc to SIS, or even more
If what is called a complicated socket
has to be fitted. The average retail
price of an eye taken from stock Is
about s.. Prices are considerably af-
fected by the circumstances Of the pur-
chaser, reductions being made to the
very poor. and not infrequently eyes
even being supplied free of charge, IN
cases where this is requested by ply
stefan attached to an eye and ear IN
Urinary
AS TO the causes which lead persons
to require artificial eyes, a manufacturer
said that I'm a great majority OF cases the
loss of the natural eye was due TO ac-
cident. although. OF course, there were
others in which it was brought about
by disease of the organ, an oculist re-
moving the eye chiefly affected in order 10
preserve the sight of the other. Then,
too. there Were persons who were pima
of one eye from birth. The accidents
which produced the loss OF an eye were
of so many kinds that nobody was saIe
from them. A flying iron filing, or
other bit OF metal might imbed itself IN
the eyeball of a workman, or any one
might be hit in the eye with stone OF
a hard SNOWFALL. In one case Whlch
the speaker knew of man LOST the
vision Of an eye through peck from the
hill of n pet canary, which he was let
ting hon over his upturned face. An
other incident was even more curious
and could not have been prevented py
any amount Of care on the part or the
victim. A little girl was sitting on the
stoop of her fathers house, when man
threw stone at a dog in the street. Inc
missile struck the edge OF the sidewalk
and so rebounded as TO nit one OF The
childs eyes and ruin its sight. IL was
q common mistake to suppose that an ope-
ration for the removal Of sightless eye
was necessary in order TO make room
for an artificial one. On the contrary
whom person had a stump" or blind,
sinlten evebaI IT was the best basis for
n class eve. which, in this case, would
be a very thin shell shaped to fit the
han Moving, as it did, in accordance
with the motion Of the organ beneath IT,
such a yitreous covering was the most
natural OF all artificial eyes In APP
pearance.
The writer had an opportunity to see
this statement illustrated, for While he
was In the office of the manufactures II
was entered by a young man VINO had
a blind eye as n birthmark, ana VINO
came to have its glass shell replaced Dy
a new one His good eye the rlghu was
a fine one-large, well-shaped, and In
color a pleasing shade of brown. The
other. when uncovered, was an I'M
pleasant-looking object, duh. shrunken'
and half hidden by a contracted eyehd.
When IT was covered by the new shell.
however. it appeared a duplicate OF the
right eve. and no one unacquainted with
the facts would ever have suspected that
it was artificial, or have observed any
thing peculiar about 1t.
The manufacture Of glass eyes. ac-
cording TO the expert already quoted,
was introduced about 200 years ago. but
it's earlier products were crude In coloring
and I'm shape. the latter resembling the
half of an egg which has been divided
lengthwise. A high degree OF skin in
the making of eyes TO order for indi-
viduals was first developed in Paris
about seventy years ago, and since that
time no important changes have been
made in the methods or the results.