The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-04-08
MORE WORK FOR HUMAN EYES.
Ready Explanation of the Fact That
Glasses Are So Commonly Used.

tAre your eyes getting worse ?'' is
the query heard from many in view
OF the increasing prevalence of spec
tacles, says DR.. Leuf in Medical Rec
ord. By no means. AS evolutionists
we must believe that they are gradual
ly growing better in each succeeding
generation. Why, then, SO many eye
glasses or spectacles? Merely because
there are SO many defective eyes. Nor
are these statements irreconcilable.
We use the eyes more now than for
merly in a way to bring out their de-
fects. The illiterate laborer usually is
without glasses until he becomes a
marked presbyope quite late in life
at least late for his class, for they age
sooner than do those more favored by
occupation and environment. If he
learns to read and write and scans the
paper daily he wears glasses sooner.
The illiterate woman likewise first
wears glasses for presbyopia late in life
less she darns socks, SewS or does other
near work requiring distinct vision, in
which event she begins the use of
them earlier A fine sieve is not need
ed to screen coarse coal. Even a per-
feet eye requires aid when the object
to be seen is very minute. Hence the
microscope. Who could do without its
aid to see the world it reveals?
Are our eyes degenerating on that
account? 1t is question of degree on
the one hand and of defects on the
other A bundle of mail, such as is
usually handled by letter carrier, is not
very heavy for the ordinary man, but
it feels heavier the longer it is borne.
These men are not losing their strength
because they avail themselves of bag
slung over the shoulder to ease the
burden Nor Is civilized man becom-
ing weaker because he uses a chair
with a back against which he can COM
fortably lean, rather than sit on an
old-style four-legged stool without this
restful addition.
Considerable derision first met the
systematic examination of the eyes of
school children and of many corpora
ton employees. Yet no one realizes
better than the child with its first set
of glasses how it eases the work and
but general pract1tion-
er. Nevertheless, I do look into eyes
that seem to me to need It, and test
them for errors of refraction and
prescribe glasses when satisfied that 1
know what 1 am doing. When in
doubt I send them to the specialist.
Many a child has been made happier
by me for detecting and correcting de-
fective vision.
why do school children find glasses
so useful only to discard them after
leaving school? Simply because they
have greater need for them while
studying. The younger the child the
more does its greater illiteracy require
visual accuracy to distinguish the sep
arate letters of each word, which 1t
can identify and pronounce only after
analysis into its component parts. AS
it's familiarity with smaller words
grows larger ones are continually be-
ing learned while the memory grldu-
ally requires a hold upon the smaller
and earlier learned word forms. AS
the child progresses in it's studies it
reads more, then begins to write and to
manipulate figures. Arithmetic is
greater strain than reading because
each figure must be carefully noted
Pennanship is also a strain upon the
eyes. When the pupil is far enough
advanced to read by word forms and
write automatically The lessons at
s chool and the home work in reading.
figuring and composition keep up an
increased demand upon the muscles
of accommodation. so that it is a won
der that even a perfectly normal eye
does not tire and make itself known
in some disa greeable way.
Add to all this required strain the
reading of books and OF newspapers
and the wonder Is that so many get
along as well as they do without