The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1901-03-01
DEFECTS OF VISION.
OF AMERICANS HAVE
WEAK EYES.
Sight of People of United States Grows
Poorer Year by Year-Desks Should
BE Placed So that Light May Fall
Upon Them from Left and Above.

Are we to become g nation Of specta-
1t has been observed by
medical authority that there
Is progressive tendency to myopia in
office employees and school-teachers due
to the nature of their work and defect
I've light The direction in which IL
enters the office and school
room Is Of supreme Importance. 1t Is
asserted by experts that hight admitted
full In the face is fatal to eyesight,
while light from behind throws the
shadow Of the body upon the desk and
the book. Light from both sides throws
a double set Of shadows, due to the in
reference Of light waves, but coming
from the left and from overhead win
dows falls directly upon the desk. A
French commission some time since
stated that from each desk there should
be visible a strip Of sky at least thirty
centimeters wide, measured from the
top of the window. The curtailment of
the strip Of sky is at the expense of the
eyesight of school children.
Professor Cohn, of Breslau, exam
ined the eyes of 10000 school children,
and found that nearsightedness in
creased from the lower to the upper
grades. The lower classes in the
Latin schools showed 1915 per cent, and
the higher class 55.S per cent of near
sightedness. DR.. Loring, in examining
fhn nffufle n he f,nI,lfn ff, Nnt
York, found "A per cent of the children
of German parentage nearsighted; Of
American descent, 10 per cent, and of
Irish parentage only IA per cent. or
500 colored children DR.. Callan found
3 20 per cent Myoplc in one school and
/ 10 per cent in another. The infer
ence drawn by Professor Bethel, of
Pennsylvania, from these observations
is that the children of these national
tiles, most commonly engaged in study
and eye work, have the greater proper
tlOnate amount of myopic change,
while those accustomed more to out
door life and resting their eyes largely
upon remote objects are generally free
from the affection. Further observa-
tons made by Professor Coin revealed
the fact that the percentage of myopia
varied from Is to sc in the better.
lighted buildings, while the schools ON
narrow streets, where the light was
more or less obstructed, showed a pro-
portion of "A TO 15.1 per cent.
From observations made in the public
- DI,fI..I,I,,If, .
that the ratio of spectacle-wearing chill
dren is progressive, showing per cent.
in the primary grades, 1-3 per cent
in the intermediate grades and rising
in the high schools to II % per cent.
There are no statistics bearing on my
opla as superlnduced by faulty light in
Office buildings, but the percentage
must be larger, Judging by the number
of adult spectacle-wearers who have
not yet reached the age when vision
naturally has to be assisted by glasses.
The observations as to school children
indicate Overstrainlng of the eyes to
insufficient or excessive light, glaring
and conflicting lights, light coming
from the wrong direction, too prolonged
use of the eye in study without fire.
quent change of focus to distant OBJ
jects, the use of too small type in the
printed page. reading from the black
board at too great a distance, the bad
position of the body assumed In the ex-
ecutlon of the slant system of penman-
ship, causing. spinal curvature as we'll
as myopia and other defects of vision.
The statistics quoted showing an in
crease of the affection in America, fur
nish abundant ground for reflection to
members Of school boards and-to build
ers OF office buildings. and should
prompt timely halt lest the people OF
this country be reduced to the myopic
condition OF other nations thus sadly
afflicted.-Dallas News.