The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1906-09-14
GLASS EYES COMMON.
The Custom Has Continued From
Egyptian Days to the Present
.,ass. Time.
New York Telegraph.

injuries to the eye continue constant,
IN ten years there will be 100000
wearers Of glass eyes in this country.
A flying splinter in the air, a speck-
OF steel from some big building under
construction, chip Of stone from the
stonecutter's block, may lodge in the
eye Of the passerby and cause endless
complications. The perfcrmation of
the outer covering Of the eye by for
eign bodies was one of the chief causes
for taking the eye ont-cnucleation
as it is called-until the development
Of x ray surgery, which has saved the
sight Of many eyes by locating the
foreign body in time for its safe re-
moval. One of the commoner diseases
following the lodgmcnt Of n foreign
body in the eye and generally requir-
ing enucleation in symparthic oph-
talmia, an affection of the unharmed
eye, which is marked at first by
dread of the light, pain and gradually
increasing dimn"ss of vision Before
the sight in both ewes is irrctrievably
lost the exciting oyc has to Dc remov-
cd. Other common diseases whose re-
moval often depends upon tnucleation
are sarcGma, or malignant I.'mor and
ahs"l'tc "laIcoma, n 'hall cycball. -
Eye surgery, the most delicate and
intricate in the scope of medical
science, is maxim" cnormuos progress
toward complete surety in its opera
tons. II IS don" 'stuntG' that oi,r
surgeon grandfathcrs would regard
with amazcmcnt. But one much adj
vcrtiscd feat il has never accomplish
ed, despite numbcrloss announcements
in the press to that effect, and that
is laying out the eycballs on the check
while they were variouSly operated
upon and rcplacin" them with success.
A patient at the New York Post
Graduate Medical school anl hospital
recently underwent IL rather difficult
operation on the eye. and to make his
story more thrillin" ne described with
much dramatic colnrinw how "thcrc
were forty to fifty ;l"ctors sitting in
rows and rows above me, like il was at
the theatcr, all them doctors being
students from ivcrywhcrcs in this
country and from the nuld country.
an some haythcnS from Japan. an
vans from England. an. well. they
was there from all over the world,
just TO learn Off ne what to do whin
they wint back I" their own patients
an whin the surgeon who was doin
all the business, the Big Bug, | name.
in the hospital-why. people would
pay him Il thousand dollars to have
him opyralr in their eyes. and | din t
have to pay i'm II cint-~why, whin he
TUX out my eyes an they was hang
ing on my checks like you read about.
all Thin fcllerS thought it was SO
great that they came down to look at
thin close. an some of thin tux q
pictyurc of me as lay there with my
eyes out : an if We don't believe ii. y"
can ask t" sec wan Of thin pictures.
This thrilling experience found lis
way into print. hut it receives the
mark Of absolute diScrclt from the
"Big Bug himself who forchl re-
marked that "all these reports about
removing the eyes and then replacing
them are pure and utter nonsense. The
eye cannot he lifted onc-cighth Of an
inch from its socket withopt destroy
ing the sight Forever
So when the eye comes out it is out
for all time, and only glass eye can
be substituted, and in this way the
work of the hospital is supplemented
with the achievement of the optical
prothctician. Hc is the last resort nf
the eyeless one, and although surgery
slaves him off as long as possible, an
.artificial pupil, movable in accordance
with the other eye if certain muscles
in the socket are left intact. and so
true to life that the kccncst inspection
often fails to detect it, is boon to the
deformity, thus removing an obstacle
to his success in life.
Only three houses in the United
States make glass eyes, and they are
located in New York city. A large
number of false orbs, however, of an
inferior quality come from Thuringia,
in the heart Of the romantic Black
forest of Germany. Here is the home
Of the industry, and from here come
most of the glass eyes that the regular
optician keeps in stock. The Ameri-
can maker, on the other hand, is ex-
y l.. L.