The Washington times., 1901-09-15
WHY GLASSES ARE COMMON.
Modern Occupations Demand kecner
Vision Throughout the World.

| Take your stand at any street corner
and note the specialized people who pass.
Glance round the interior of tramcar-
| If you can see so far,-and reckon the
number of spectacle users.
Watch the merry school child at
play and see the round goggles hitched
behind the infant ears.
| No wonder the casual observer fears
! lest the fate of the eyeless fish in the
mammoth caves of Kentucky should
overtake the British people. and for lack
| of proper use the eyes of the nation
should disappear.
But the outlook is not really SO terrible.
| To Mr.. ]. H Sutcliffe, Secretary of the
British Optical Association. an Express"
representative is indebted for the other
side of the picture
| NO" said Mr. Sutciffe. I'VE are not
going blind On the contrary. our sight
is much better. Ophthalmic hospitals will
tell you that diseases of the eyes are
| lessening.
There is, for example. much less neo-
natorium, or newborn ophthalmia, than
formerly. thanks to modern conditions.
| 1t used to be a common cause of bad sight
| in later years.
Really bad sight is only found now
adays among the agricultural classes,
| poor Irish, and the East End Jews, peo-
pie who are not generally seen wearing
glasses"
How is 1t, then. one sees so many per-
sons wearing spectacles?'
"In general l ascribe it to the fact that
modern occupations demand keener vision
Take the case of the young girls employed
in weaving.
"A girl may have very fair sight. ana
would not think of wearing spectacles in
! the ordinary way. But she finds that she
cannot turn out as much work as the girl
next to her. Then it becomes question
of wage-earning, and she gets pair of
glasses.
so 1t is among girls engaged in type
writing, dressmaking. and other occupa-
| tions demanding good sight
Eighty per cent of people have defect
i've vision, and the ordinary man almost
invariably has one eye slightly stronger
than the other. Defects. though small,
are constantly corrected nowadays by the
use of glasses so thin that they would
have been laughed at by the optician of
a generation age. The prejudice among
young persons against the use of glasses
has been greatly lessened.'
Mr.. Sutcliffe has an interesting theory,
which he thinks ought to be put into
practice.
He believes that among a number of
artists some few fall short of genius only
because their eyesight. unknown to them.
is slightly defective. II one eye is more
powerful than the other. the artist loses
stereoscopic depth.
Michael Angelo" says Mr.. Sutcliffe.
could truly and accurately draw a com
plete circle The feat would be impossible
to any one with the merest suspicion of
astigmatism. Messonier must have suf-
fered from myopia to paint canvases of
such microscopic size.
'if you take artist with said mental
gifts and normal but not absolutely per
feet vision and correct the defect in his
vision, believe he would .ake much high
er rank in his profession.
No student should outer a public
school of art until properly equipped and
able to see things as they are. Symmetry
and beauty would then become universal
in private and public buildings and the
artistic world would look askance at un-
healthy and decadent art. London Ex-
press.