Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-18
SPECTACLES AND EYEGLASSES.
When They Should and Should Not BE
Needed and BE Worn.

From the New York Medical Journal.
Wearing spoctacles or eyeglasses out of
doors Is always a Disagreement, often an
injury, seldom a necessity. 1t is a common
thing for people with some trif1ing or pass
ing trouble OF the eyes. only needing rest,
to be advised to wear glasses all the time
If this is done the ciliary or focusing mus
cles may get weak from not having proper
work, and spectables become a necessary
evil.
Those who can be benefited by wearing
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 see at a distance as well as
or better with the naked eyes than with
the sDectacles.
II a persons vision for distant objects 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 a 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 perfect the fit
Of the glasses the longer they can be left
or at a time: wrong glasses may help more
or less, but they DO not entirely relieve the
strain of the focusing muscles, 80 they
have to be 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 dis
tress for hours II these muscles are per-
fectly 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.
dfcAo
girls. Most tolerate them because thew re
told that wearing them all the time is the
only way to keep from having serious eye
trouble II glasses. are all right thew will
seldom or never have to be worn In public
The easiest way to tell whether glasses are
needed or to find out If they are ANYTHING
like right Is to hold the finest print about
sixteen inches off and right in front of the
eyes, with a good light falling on the nrint
from behind. Keep both eyes open during
the test and cover first one eve and then
the other with card to see if the print
looks exactly alike to each eye If 1t does
there is as yet nothing wrong enough to
pay any attention to. After the fiftieth
year this test will show the slightest imper-
fections. If one under thirty finds the print
unlike or is unable to read with comfort
something Ia badly wrong The complicat-
ed tests all have their places. but this fest
Is given to the general practitioner, and is
about all that he needs to find out lust
what is wrong. A man may see the print
alike with bad eyes or wrong glasses: he
may read with comfort with bad ewes 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
cannot be improved upon If this test shows
nothing wrong.
About one old person in four uses but
one eye In reading. This is because of
wrong glasses. The best oculists often spend
hours in testing the eyes of the youne
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 a pair of magnifiers and
| these suit only about half of them. The
| other half have astigmatism. together with