The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-06-21


 ing through the pupil the optician Is able exactly to see the trouble and to learn the precise condition of the mem- branes and nerves of the eye.
 Spectacles were first used in the western world about the thirteenth century. Most authorities claim that 1t was Roger Bacon who discovered the principle. Others accredit 1t to other sources, while many say that China was using eyeglasses before the Christian era. For a long time the wearing of glasses was vigorously op- posed by the church. The vicar of Chew Magma. for instance, opposed them, on the ground that their use was immoral, causing men and women to see things from a different viewpoint from that of the rest of the world. It is said that the development of the eye glass to its modern state of excellence is due more to the astfonomer than to the physician. Dealing with angles of vision and with lenses. it was natural that he should learn much about spec tacles.
 One gets a glimpse of the progress which Is being made in the opticians profession by walking through an up- to-date optical store, or visiting the oculist. The latter writes out his pre- scription with all the exactness of the physician who is prescribing cyanide ks There are instruments oflall kinds for examining the eye and exactly deter mining its needs. In many eases a lens of certain power is fitted to the patients left eye while his right may require a much stronger or weaker, or a concave and a convex lens are used in the same frame. How different Is the modern way from the old one of walking into store and trying on one pair of spectacles and then another until the ones which fit best were found. In the obscure districts to this day there are families in which spectacles are handed down from the older to the younger members as the latter grow up to the glasses.
 Artificial eyes were known long be- fore spectacles were discovered. They have been found on the faces of Egyp- tian enthusiastically on, for the eyes were pasted onto the face and not inserted in the eye-socket The practice was to paste the half of marble onto a piece of fiesh-colored cloth. The marble was then painted to resemble an eye, and the whole was paSted onto the face over the vacant eye-socket. One well may imagine that the result was not entirely artistic, but the mummies do not appear dissat tisfied with the artificial optics. Gold eye balls came later, and these were in turn followed by glass eyes. The art of making artificial eyes has progress ed so greatly that opticians can now supply eyes which the wearer may move in his head in a manner perfect ly natural. It is reliably stated that there is living in New York 6 man who has worn a glass eye for thirty years, during which time he has mar ried and become the father of i've children, and neither the wife nor children know he was not born with the two eyes he wears He has a new one put in every few years in order to keep up the perfect resemblance to his natural eye.
 1 There are two classes of artificial eyes, those kept in stock and those largely In Germany, and the art Is confined to a comparatively few fam lilies. It is handed down from father to son frequently as many as ten gen. erations passing without a break In the line of eye-makers. The made-to- order kind are found in this country as well as in Europe. The patient goes 10 the shop and sits by while the ar tisan fashions an optic which is an exact match for the natural eye in size and coloring. He makes it from small glass tube. and sometimes 1t requires a half dozen attempts to get satisfactory result. When the work
 
 $50 for the job.
 It Is said that one person out of ev- cry 300 wears glass eye. Of course these are not evenly distributed throughout the population. There are said to be families in which husband, wife and two or three children have them. The optical people declare Americans to be largely a grey and blue-eyed race, but admit that the in- Aux of immigrants from Southern Flu rope is beginning to show most per ceptibly in the darkening of the na- tion's eyes.
 Color blindness Is one of the strang- est conditions of the eye with which | the eye specialist has to deal. Try as he will, he cannot formulate a fully 1 satisfactory definition of the cause of | this allment. Yet 1t Is conceded to be 1 growing more prevalent as the years go by Railroads make particularly careful tests to ascertain the existence of color blindness In their operating ] forces. This defect of vision has some | times played embarrassing tricks on its victims. A story Is told of a grave old Quaker official in the days in which knickerbockers were worn, who came to the meeting-house one day wearing scarlet hose. The congrega- tion, of course, was shocked. And matters were made worse when the wearer indignantly denied that he had on any other than the regulation grey.
 One of the latest fdeas in the opti- cal world is a nickel in- the-slot spec taclS vendor. It is intended to save the time of the salesman and to aid the buyer in a careful selection of spectaeles. When the customer drops
 his coin in the slot a pair of glasses come out. If they suit him the trans