Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-18

unlike eyes. While eye imperfections may
not cause as much pain to the aged as the
young, they interfere far more with the
proper use of the eyes after middle age
than before The eyes of the young are
hard enough to fit, but the eyes of the aged
are even harder IL there Is the least astig-
matism or difference in the size of the two
eyes Reading is the chief and about the
only comfort that most old people get out
of life, and no doubt early dotage often
comes from not being able to keep the
| mind active by reading The routine way OF
testing the eyes of the aged is a great EVIL,
for most Of them can read or see about as
well as ever If they only get the right
glasses. Many do this with peddlers
glasses. .
In farsightedness the eyeball is too small
or too short; in nearsightedness, too long
or too large, and in astigmatism II is I'M
perfectly rounded. Astigmatism causes
more eye trouble and interfereS more with
reading than all other troubles put to-
gether. People who have every kind OF
mysterious eye trouble, when properly ex-
amined, are usually found to have astig-
matfsm. 1t causes blurring Of the print,
pain in the head and eyes. nervousness,
fretfulneSs, etc, and is most apt TO give
trouble when the focusing muscle gets
weak from sickness, overwork, ETC.. or when
the crystalline lens gets hard from age.
Ast.gmatism is such difficult imperfec-
ton to properly estimate that glasses have
not yet benefited astigmatic eyes any
thing like much they should have.
Imperfections. especially nearsghtedness
and astigmatism. are apt to be more pro-
nounCed IN one eye than In the other and,
worse still, usually so badly mixed up
that glass which fits eye would injure
the other, the eyes being so unlike. Many
with unlike eyes. united with astigmatism,
require a pair Of spectacles that would fit
nobody else.
A few have eyeballs imperfect that
they are deformed and the focusing mech
anism is powerless to make the sight good
even for distance. Such eyes require the
thickest and heaviest glasses, and these
have to be worn nearly all the time.
restoring and preserving the sight with
glasses is one Of the greatest and broad
est as well as one Of the most difficult
branches of medicine. The glass is of
cine, for is it not like splint to a broken
leg. like a bed for a tired back, like opium
for pain. like an artificial limb to the
manned, or a crutch to the crippled? 1t
acts like both sleep and exercise. 1t is a
return of youth to aged eyes. 1t is often
perfection and success in life instead of
imperfection and failure. 1t may mean all
that blindness or sight, all that the eye
itself means. Science by glasses has per-
petuated the life of the mind quarter of
a century, if not longer. If science and
wisdom could do as much for the other
fading powers of life as spectacles can for
the eyes there might be many risky CEN
tenarians Spectacles are often the means
of a ripened wisdom, and should be its
badge and symbol.
Perfectly fitting glasses take every bit Of
the strain off the focusing muscles and
proper exercise. even in moderate reading
On the surface this looks a If good glasses
ought to be worn all the time but this is
far from right, for such glasses do so much
or the work of the focusing muscles that
these would become weak from not having
proper work Until late in life the focuss-
ing mechanism Is so powerful that 1t can
make the sight OF a very imperfect eve
or from a badly fitting glass, about per
feet. This is owing to the soft crystalline
lens. Late in life tie lens hardens, when
even slight Imperfect lions give trouble in
reading; then perfectly fitting glasses are
all the more necessary else too strong
glasses have to be used and the print mag
nified so much that only one eye Is used.
for the more print is magnifed the closer
and closer it must be held to the eyes. The
aged cannot hold print close like children
and still read with both eyes at the same
time. Old people who hold print close read
with only eye
A glass that magnifies a little bit or a
weak asugmatism glass, will give more
or less relief to more than half who need
spectacles. These glasses will by rights
fit but few-in fact, their true use is very
limited. for they suit only the simplest i'm
projections of the eyes-yet about half who
wear glasses all the time have just some
such compromise. Neither knowledge nor
skill Is required to prescribe such. Just
such glasses and such fits these have
made, and for a long time will make, fat
sinecures for travelling spectacle experts
and quack opticians.
The old rule. Wear glasses all the time
should be changed to Wear glasses just
as little as possible" Some wear specta-
Giles for years. and then by lucky chance
lose them, only to find that they get along
better without. After wearing glasses only
a few days many find the print looks worse
to the naked eye than before. This is
sure way to tell that glasses are wrong.
Most people with troublesome imperfec-
lions Of the eyes cannot leave their glasses
off even for hour without uIscom-
fort. This Is because they have wrong
glasses. The right glasses can be put
and taken off at any time with ease and
no more discomfort following than putting
on and taking off hat.