Washington sentinel., 1898-01-08
nnea shavlng clause BIindnsss7
cassslPs Saturday Journal.

C0SSeEfS O0AHyd4V /Ohy"e|'
"Atraid you're going blind1
Suffered with your eyes for years1
Father died blindP Want some
powerful magnifying glasses to
help you to read1 Don't you be-
lieve il. sir" cried the well-known
London optician whom had only
braced myself up to consult after
weeks OF abject mental cowardice.
"Your eyes are as sound as a bell,
nv dear sir. Give up shaving for
six months, and then come to me
agatn." did. / went back at
the end Of the appointed time COM
pletely cured, and anxious to know
how it was done. And some OF
the things the celebrated optician
told me in the course of that inter-
view metaphorically opened my
eyes for me to their widest extent.
"Has il ever struck you as cur
ious," he began, that there should
be just about twice as much blind
ness among men all over the world
as there is among women Yet IN
every respect a mans eyesight is
far and away stronger than that OF
the weaker sex. How is it1 Be-
cause the man shAves, sirl--noth-
ing else. The tender facial mus
cles are irritated by the sharp edge
OF the razor and communicate their
irritation to the eye nerves Tor
sympathy. And as well as the eve
nerves themselves are uncOnscI-
ously dragged out OF their natural
position every time the operation
takes place by the very act oi fol-
lowing the movement Of the razor
round the face. Try to stare at
that smut on your cheek for few
seconds now, and you will soon see
what mean. Look at blind street
musicians; you'll find they are
mostly men. And Of course there
are hundred and one other in
stances. 1t is a very well known
fact that in Eastern countries,
where there is a custom of shaving
both the head and face, the average
OF sightless men has always been
appallingly high. A somewhat
curious case which l treated here
about SIX months ago might be of
interest to you. A man came to
me complaining that he was losing
the sight OF his left eye. In fact, it
seemed that at times he went COM
pletely blind in il. Now, care
full examination revealed no cause
for this failing whatever, both eyes
being apparently equally strong
and healthy. But a lew inquiries
into his method OF shaving soon
put me in possession OF the whole
affair. / found that he was given
to shaving the left side OF his face
a great deal more than the right,
as he said the greasy ointments he
was obliged to use for an old scar
there caused the hair to grow more
quickly on that side.
but perhaps an even more ex-
traordinary case was that OF a
friend OF mine, who has an Office
in the City. About a year ago he
began to do all sorts of strange
things, and altogether behaved so
oddly that his friends thought he
was gong queer. After a bit he
gave up going out in the daytime,
and actually took a room over his
officet to save himself being obliged
to walk there in the daylight. By
degrees he put thick blinds on all
the windUwsj aud when I looked
him up one day found him work
ing in hole that might have been
a photographers dark room. /
determined to solve the mystery,
anG asked him to let me stay with
him a night What do YOU think
l discovered it to be1 Why simply
that the fellow always shaved at
night, over strong gas light, and
he had habit while shaving OF
pulling the lower eYelid down so
that the light played full upon an
extremely delicate nerve which is
just inside the eyelid. This nerve
being naturally weak in his case,
was gradually shrinking away
from the exposure to the light.
His strange behavior was ex-
planned by the fact that he was
slowly going ligh blind, and he
was afraid of letting anyone dis
cover il. Oh. yes, he got cured
all right; but he was obliged to
give up shaving altogether. To
my mind there is not the slightest
doubt whatever that halt the blind.
ness in the world at the present
moment is due to the direct effect
of so much shaving, and nothing
else You see, shaving is alto
gether unnatural Our early fore
fathers didn't shave, and in their
day opticians were an utterly un-
known commodity"