The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-06-24
SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM
BLINDNESS.
lAlorninc Examlnerl

We copy these paragraphs from a
bulletin issued by the Massachusetts
commission for the blind, because the
information contained may save some
child its sight The commissions first
instruction Is to get prompt medical
care for babies sore eyes, which care
can prevent one-half the blindness. as
that large a percentage is estimated to
be preyentable.
The most advanced medical practi-
TONERS in Ogden, with the birth of a
child, attend to the eyes the first thing
after the baby is presented. This should
be an inyariabe rule with all doctors.
Opthalmia neonatorum is the tech
nical name for babies sore eyes" an
infectious germ disease, The cure for
this inflammation was discovered
| thirty years ago, and yet nearly one
nalf of the blind children Of the pres
ent day have become blind from this
disease, and heaven only knows how
many lives have been circumscribed
and their possibilities limited by scars
! that leave a defective vision and can
never be cleared away.
The child who develops the ailment
may come into the world normal. but
on the third or fourth day after birth
the germ begins Its insidious work
One or both eyes of the infant become
inflamed, swollen or red, and unless
the correct treatment is administered
the sight is destroyed in an amazingly
short time.
In spite of the ease with which the
disease can be cured. thousands Of
children are made blind by it every
day In the year. Ignorance and neg
lect are responsible for what the bull
letin rightly brands as 'inexcusable
| injustice to the children" and d
wrong to the public"
We suggest that the School for the
Deaf and Blind In Ogden be the in
spirational point from which this labor
OF love be carried on. and that tho
school distribute literature on the
care of infant eyes. There should be
portance OF preventive treatment and
none should be more deeply interested
in that work than the teachers Of the
| blind
The Massachusetts commission
places stress on the blessings of vision.
From infancy to old age the blind,
or those with defective sight, are han
dlcapped at ever point.
In infancy the normal child Is led
by the objects around him-the glanc-
ing sunlight, the mothers smile. by
swiftly moving objects. and by the ac-
tivity of man and beast-to express
himself, to move, to creep, to stand, to
walk, and to hasten from one childish
achievement TO another; but the blind
infant remains passive, inert and with
out ambition.
In childhood the inertness fingers.
There is no sight of earth. sky, water
and the innumerable forms Of motion
to evoke mis- enterprise
AT school age" says the bulletin
"the out-of-doo world offers to the
seeing boy endless surprises and ex
elements. but from the blind boy II
hides its face"
The world is awake as never before
TO the economic and spiritual value OF
rescuing those who are perishing from
the action Of preyentable evils. Hun
dreds Of noble men and women are de
voting their lives TO lifting these bur
dens from the human race. and more
and more the great mass of mankind is
coming TO recognize the individuals re
sponsibility for the general condition
1t is scarcely possible to conceive OF
a work so fruitful OF good results. and
at the same time so easy to accom-
plish as the work of saving the eyes o.
the newborn.