Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1910-03-17
PARENT-TEACHER
ASSOCIATION

held regular meeting in the high
school room Tuesday eve. There was a
good attendance. The Orpheus Glee
club rendered couple of selections
and Miss Jessie Kimerer gave a recita-
| tion.
The feature of the evening was
paper read by DIR. II. S. Patten,
entitled 'Some Conditions That In
| fiuence Progress of a Child From the
Standpoint of the Eyes. - The paper
was a most excellent one on subject
that has probably been given too little
attention in the past
The subject resolved itself into two
divisions, first as diseases of the eye'
and second abnormal refraction. "
The diseases and defects of the eye,
| the speaker said, are common enough
among school children, but are too of.
ten ignored by parent and teacher. We
fail to recognize their significance and
to what extent they are preventing the
children from accomplishing the things
we so much desire and expect of them,
while at the same time school duties
are made laborious that under more
favorable conditions would be quite
easy and enjoyable.
Under the head OF diseases of the
eyes Dr. Patten dwelt upon the var
ious forms of 'conjunctivitis'' The
simple form of this disease is an in
fammatory state of the conjunctiva OF
that thin transparent membrane COW
ering the eyeball and acting as inside
lining to the eye lid. The disease is
characterized by congestion, loss in
transparency of the membrane, some
dread of light usually being present
along with the twitching of the lids
and discharge sufficiently great to
glue the lids i'll the morning.
The cause of this form is made veid-
ent by observing certain types, such as
may be termed associated conjunc-
tivitis' as seen in eczema, facial cry
sipelas and nasal catarrh, as we'll as
another type known as "exanthemat-
Jus Soh WHICH dCCOm-
panies or follows, as the case may be,
measles, scarlet fever, whooping cough
and the like.
4aUV0I 'aIIouy mas Cume ~ our
attention great deal this winter due
to the more or less prevalence of the
above named diseases. The effect on
the vision of the child is about the
same as that produced by looking
through dirty glass. The result must
be evident-an overworking and strain
ingsof the eye, which is made manifest
by the child's report at school.
The second form of the disease may
be termed "acute contagious conjunc.
tivitiS, or more commonly known as
pink eye. - In this form we have
the same conditions aS in simple con-
junctivitis, with the exception that
the symptoms are more severe and that
the discharge from tItc eyes contains
Il specific bacillus or germ. making it
a markedly contagiurs disease The in
jury to the child 5 vision is even great
er than in the forma: variety. 1t las
a tendency 10 repeat itself and by
these repeated attacks more or less
permanent damage is done.
The third and final form of coniunc-
tivitis is one designated as granular
conjunctivitis' or the form known
better as ''granulated lids" In this
variety the inflammation of the con.
junctiva causes the membrane to lose
its smooth surface, owing to the form
alton of rounded granulations, which
leaves the scaI-like changes on the
eye-lid-at first producing a sensation
like saw dust in the eye. The damage
to the structure and especially the lid
of the eye is greater i'll this form than
in those previously metioned. Often
as an effect the eye-lids are drawn
away, losing their proper relation to
the eye.
Under the head of Abnormal Re-
fraction" is included "far-sighted-
ness, - "near.sightedness, ," and las
tigmatism. "
All these are very common but are
often not discovered by the parent.
The pupil at school is unable to see
figures on the blackboard and thus at
late day the defect of the eye may
be discovered The strain on the
child's eyes is apparent in the slow
progress made in studies.
DR.. Patten urged that parents he
more attentive to their children in re-
lation to the eye. He suggested that
school children be periodically subject
ed to an examination to determine
whether there are any among them
whose eyes need treatment.