The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1900-09-20
THE USE OF SPECTACLES.
WHEN THEY SHOULD AND SHOULD
NOT BE WORN.

Wearing spectacles or eyeglasses out
Of doors is always Disagreement, of.
ten an injury. seldom necessity. 1t
is Il common thing for people with
some trifling or passing trouble of the
eye, only needing rest. to be advised
to wear glasses all the time. If this Is
done the ciliary or focusing muscles
may get weak from not having proper
work, anC spcctacles become neces-
sary evil.
Those who can he benefited by wear
ing suitable glasses for reading and
near work are many. Few, though,
need to wear them out of doors or in
public: indeed. more than half who
do so see Mt n distance as well as or
better with the naked eyes than with
the spectaclcs.
If persons vision for distant OBJ
jectJ is satisfactory to himself and
seems good enough to keep him out of
danger, there is no sense In wearing
glasses on the street or in public. If
the right glasses are worn for several
hours day while reading or about
the house the eyes will be rested so
much that the useful exercise of out
of-door sightseeing may be taken
without the spectacles. As soon as
the eyes feel tired wear them again
until rested.
Naturally, some eyes need much
more rest than others. The nearer
l.n % II,
or they can be left Off at time
Wrong glasses may help moro or less.
but they do not entirel.' relieve the
strain of the focus ing muscles, so
they have to he worn nearly all the
time to get all of the little help that
comes with such glasses,
Distant vision requires little work
of the focusing muscles, and will not
cause distress for hours If these mus
cles are perfectly rested beforehand.
If glasses are really needed, reading
and near work should hardly ever be
undertaken without them, for strain
of the focusing muscles from this
cause often lasts for hours or even
days.
Glasses are very dishguring to wom-
en- and girls. Most tolerate them be-
cause they are told that wearing them
all the time Is the only way to keep
from having serious eye trouble. If
glasses are all right they will seldom
or never have to be worn in public.
The easiest way to tell whether
oil n nnn.IaI fn Hn1
they are anything like right, Is TO hold
the finest print about sixteen inches
off and right in front of the eyes. with
good light falling on the print from
behind. Keep botn eyes open during
the test, and cover first one eye and
print looks exactly alike to each eye.
II 1t does there is as yet nothing
wrong enough to pay any attention to.
After the fiftieth year this test VIII
show the slightest lmperfectlons. If
one under thirty finds the print unlike.
or is unable to read with comfort,
something is badly wrong, The COM
plicated tests all have their places, but
this test Is given to the general practi-
TONER and is about all that he needs
to find out Just what Is wrong. A
man may see the print alike with bad
eyes or wrong glasses; he may read
with comfort with bad eyes or wrong
glasses, but he cannot see the print
alike and read with comfort unless the
eyes are about right, or made so by
glasses. The cheap glasses in the
stores suit about half of the people
They do no harm, and can not be I'm
proved upon if this test shows nothing
wrong.
About one old person in four uses
but one eye in reading. This is be-
cause of wrong glasses, The best ocu-
lists often spend hours in testing the
eyes of the young, and then fail to
get the right glasses AS for the eyes
of the aged, they are usually gone over
In perfunctory and stereotyped way.
and given pair of magnitiers, and
these suit only about half of them.
The other half have astlgmatism, to-
gether with unlike eyes. While eye
imperfectlons may not cause as much
pain to the aged as to 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 ven harder II there Is the
least astigmatism 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 n
great evil, for most of them can read
or see about as well M ever il they
only get the right glasses. Many do
this with pedlers' glasses.
In farsightedness the eyeball IL too
small or too short; in nearsightedness,
too long or too large, and in astigma'
tism 1t Is imperfcctly rounded. Astig-
matism causes more eye trouble and
interferes more with reading than all
other troubles put together. People
who have every kind IF mysterious
! eye trouble, when properly examined
are usually found to have astigma'
tism. 1t causes blurring of the print,
pain In the head and eyes, nervous
ness, fretfulness, etc, and Is most apt
| TO give trouble when the focusing
muscle gets weak from sickness, over
xuorlr atc M when thp crystalline lens