Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1902-11-11
THE SENSE OF SIGHT
HOW AN INFANT SLOWLY LEARNS
TO EXERCISE 1T.

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The sense most early exercised by
the newborn infant Is the sense OF
sight, but at first 1t has the power only
to distinguish light from darkness and
Is In comparison with It's later devel-
opment blind, While In many of the
lower creatures the senses are at birth
fully developed.
What a difference there Is between
the dull eye OF the newborn infant and
the sharp vision OF the young chick.
which is able to pick up with precision
grain OF corn or even snap up ny
while the eggshell may be still stick
Ing to Its back! The eye or the infant,
however, Is developed very gradually,
and during infancy ana childhood 1t
learns how to see. In the nrst Few days
1t notices the difference between light
and darkness when the light Is very
intense, and 1t may even knit Its brow
In sleep IL a bright light be brought
close to Its face.
On the same principe striking
bright color VIII also be noticed when
held close to the face
In all these cases, however, the In
fant follows the object py turning Its
head and not by the movement or the
eyes.
The eyelids open ana shut from birth,
but they are not always moved at the
same time with the movements OF the
eyeballs until the infant hes reached
the second or third month. Under two
or three months OF age infants do not
wlnk when the hanu or an OBJECT Is
waved Defore the race, because they
do not see.the hand distinctlys
one OF the remarkable points or In
terest IN the development or the In
fant's power OF vision is the way IN
when II learns 10 appreciate the oD-
1ects seen. IL mas TO learn 10 discover
the distance or OBJECTS, tneir shape,
size, character, etc., ana tnis It does
with the assistance OF the sense OF
touch.
The face OF the mother or nurse 10
made familiar In that 1t ID brought 90
close to the infants race.
AFTER the lnfant mas learned to see
objects distinctly at the distance OF
several feet 1t begins to use both eyes
In common. AT first the eyes act inde-
pendently OF each other. 30 that 1t un-
doubtedly has double vision and sees
everything double. This double vision
can be produced by many at Will BY
looking cross eyed.
The infant having reached the point
when 1t sees an object clearly, 1t must
also begin to understand objects Of
three dimensions-that Is, to find out
the difference between fat surface
touch also assists. The infant grasps
an object and. putting 1t to Its lips and
face, satisfies itself as to the shape.
character, etc.
1t Is interesting In this connection to
note some cases In which person born
blind recovers sight when grown.
In one case young man who had
lost his sight In early infancy was 80
completely blinded that he could not
distinguish even the strongest light
from darkness.
After on operation on one eye had
been successfully performed he began
to see objects without understanding
them-not being able to Judge their
distances from his eye-and he felt as
II everything was touching his eye, SO
that to touch an object he at first
would put one finger or the hand up
before his face, pointing at the object
aimed at, and reach forward until his
finger came In contact with the OBJ
1ect.
After he had recovered the use of
both eyes he began to find out that
everything was not fat, but that many
things had certain thickness as well
as length and breadth, and In this way
ne began to see solid objects.
But even for year or two after COM
plete recovery he was unable to decide
whether certain figure was fiat sur
race, as In painting. or solid body.