The times., 1898-11-07
WHARERS Oh SPECqACLHS
Washington is Famous for
Weak Eyed People.
LEADS ALI OTHER CITIES
How Opticians Account for It-More
Brain Work Done Here Than Else
where-Myopia Becoming n Very
Common Failing A Word About
Those Who Use Glasses.

More than 50 per cent of the population
of Washington wear spectacles or eye
glasses.
Since the days of Rome when Nero
found that his famous emerald aided his
defective sight when placed at proper
angle from the eye eyeglasses have rapid
Iy become more and more of necessity
to the human race. More than anything
else eyeglasses can be termed the ther-
mometers of growing civilization and in
telleetual progress. but the lens as We
know it today, was given birth with the
discovery of printing.
The development of these aids to
more perfect vision has been shown, but
there is a wonderful stretch between the
ancient clumsy horn spectacies, with
rough glasses. and the dainty gold
mounted eyeglasses with highly polished
spherical lenses.
Shakespeare jests at those who wear
spectacles in several of his comedies. and
even staid old Chaucer speaks of ma
ture's frowning spectacled eyes"
Yet today. to remove from our life the
wearers of eyeglasses would be to re-
move nearly every great intellect. 70 rob
the world of the men and women who
have accomplished more in three decades
than the teeming millions of the world
in scores of centuries. Build up list
of the men and women of this century
who have been truly great, then take
away from this list those who do not
wear or who have not worn eyeglasses.
and see what remains.
There are more wearers of eyeglasses
in Washington than In any other city OF
its size in the country. Even the intel
lectual Hub cannot cope with the over
whelming spectaeled numbers of the Dis
trict, and few cities OF the world of a like
population can equal the figures claimed
by local opticians.
A careful estimate shows that nearly
IS per cent of the population of this city
are wearers of eyeglasses. This large
proportion Is explained by the fact that
the great armies of Government clerks
are spectacled almost to man and wo-
man. The bulk OF the labor performed
daily in this city Is brain and eye work.
A visit to any, of the departments will
! show the cause of the exceedingly high
| that the figures are conservative.
The number of eyegiass wearers Is con-
! stantiy on the increase and il would seem
as though the practice must eventually
become universal.
The number of the fair sex who use
| these aids TO clearer vision is, strangely
enough, nearly as large as that of the
males. Nearly one-third of the women
who wear glasses DO so as a fad and not
hap hat NJ 1rff
aid. This is the experience of a number
of opticians who are compelled to fit up
lenses almost as weak ordinary win
dow glass In order to crafty the vanity
of their fair patrons
While We are not approaching anything
like an epidemic OF blindness, matured
people with perfect vision are becoming
so scarce that they will soon be the ex-
/. ception. Myopia, or near sight. is rapid
| ly spreading, and. according to several
prominent local opticians. over two thou
sand people are treated for this disease in
| this city every year
| Instead of marking the degeneracy of
| the American eye, the increased use OF
! glasses is claimed to benefit the nation by
reducing the number of myopic cases.
| The most expensive eye glasses manu-
| factured by any optician In this city
! range from SIS to SIS Glasses at these
| figures are as a rule prepared for those
with very defective sight. The price is
| gauged by the compiexity in preparing
the lenses Many of these have to be
ground to various shades of thickness in
one lens. Prism and spherical lenses are
the most expensive. The best glasses are
mounted in 14-carat gold. as anything
| finer proves too soft and pliabic
| Eyeglasses, like myopics. are unknown
| where illiteracy prevails. but the use of
! glasses increases rapidly with the educa-
| ton and enlightenment of the people
Weed out the illiterates and the coll
| ored people from the population of the
| District" said weli-known optician last
| week, land Washington will contain more
| wearers of eyeglasses than any other
| city of nearly double the population in
this country"
A movement is now on foot to require
an ocular examination of all school chill
dren at the hands of trained specialists
Such an examination and the rapid RENE
dies for defects which would follow is re-
garded as the best way In which to check
the growing degeneracy of the American
eye.
New occasions teach new duties"
When it is your occasion to drink beer it
I T.