The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-04-01
WITH THE GLASS EYES.
Things Not Generally known
About Them.
Kansas City Journal.

All of you probably nave seen in pass
ing along the main streets down town win
dows or show cases in which are exhibited
glass eyes-artificial organs of sight which
are sightless but not unsightly. There are
sometimes great quantities shown, and
they are of all shades, from gray and pale
blue to brown and hazel and black. And
the variety seems endless; there are APP
parently no two alike. Perhaps you WON
der where they come from and why they
vary so much.
1t is a matter Of fact that any dealer
will assert that no two eyes are alike, and
that the best ones come from Germany,
with a few from France. But Germany is
the great eye country, and the trade over
involves certain methods which are Jealous
ly guarded and are transmitted from father
TO son. Without these secrets the sreat
success in making a glass eye is lacking,
and that is why the finest cannot be made
of his wares:
at is a fact that we have to import the
most of our eyes. because we cannot learn
the secret of their making. There is some
thing We in America have to learn and
e %ahd w we 'e Gould on make Ee the in ne 1t eye ef %e
earth and We wouldn't have to look to
Germany or France. as we do now. 1 wish
we could: we would make artificial eyes
much cheaper.
at isn't that Americans can't make good
eyes. for they do so far as they go. They
get a good shape to them and an excellent
coloring, but when Ii comes TO the glaze
they are off. The glaze we put on is soft
and without the luster that the foreign
eyes have, and besides not being strictly
natural IL soon wears off. Ii might be i'm
possible fer the difference between our
eyes and the foreign to be told at once,
but time would soon show it,"
why don't Americans go over and learn
this?" he was asked.
"Ah. that's it. They have tried often,
but they can't do il. You see, the method
has become a tradition in certain families,
and il is handed down through the genera
tions and guarded most sedulously. 1t isn't
possible TO capture IL. OF course. L sup
pose some day some OF the possesSOrs OF
the secret will come over here and go broke
and sell it. but none has done so yet. And
il is a trade secret-it can't be obtained. L
had a friend who wanted to learn II, and
he went over there and even lived i'm the
family of an eyemaker for two years. but
do you suppose he learned? Not he. They
never let out a word of their craft. and
though he spent lots of money, ne couldn't
catch on 10 the work. Father passes it on
TO son, and so IL is kept. They know its
value
The dealer took out a tray of eyes that
looked uncannily up at the visitor and
stared in ghostly fashion. Then he took
another and another, busting them lightly
as he replaced them.
II have several thousand glass eyes in
stock he said. finally, and no two OF
them are exactly alike. In these trays are
brown and blue and gray and black and
hazel and violet and even green eyes. They
scold and they weep, they smile and they
storm, and some Of them are quiet and
some fiery. The longer you look at them
the more human they become. They are
beauties some Of them. and they cost good
money. too
But why no two alike?'.
did you ever see two human eyes alike =?
No, OF course you didn't. They don't come
that way. No person has eyes like an
others. and no persons two eyes are ex-
actly alike. One is smaller or deeper set,
or something, than the other. Did yoC
ever notice that? Well. we have to treat
artificial eyes just as we would real ones.
we must study the face. and the good eye,
and note the difference, and work over
"A thousand sometimes before we find the
one that exactly matches the other one.
allowin for the difference that nature has
made in the two eyes. I'VE have 10 judge OF
this difference from our general knowledge
OF faces.
I'VE work first for shape and expression.
The matter of expression In an artificial
eve is really the most important. and is
what is the hardest to obtain. That is why
we must have so many varieties. The ex-
preston once secured. and the shape fol-
lowing. the color Is the least important.
That may strike you as queer. but IL is so.
of course. / do not mean that we put a
green eve 10 match a gray one. for we do
not. But the shades sometimes of the same
color are not exactly matched: we sacrifice