Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-05-27
State Board Of Health Is.
sues Leaf|et No. I.
On Subject Of The Eyes and
Their Care.
Board Of State Assessors will Be
gin Meetings in June.
STATE HOUSE CALENDAR.
Next Meeting Of Governor and Council
Tuesday, May 81, at 10 A. M.


nounces the issuance of Leafiet No. Z
of the series of Health of Home and
School Leaflets for distribution to the
homes through the hands of school
teachers and scholars, a work in which
the State superintendent and a large
number of local superintendents of
schools are cooperating. The sub
ject of the leafiet is 1.-The Eyes and
Their Care" and the contents is as fol-
lows:
The Eyes and Their Care-No words
need be wasted to convince anybody
| what a calamity blindness is; but
there is a long list of misfortunes and
handicaps which may be the result of
eye strain due to defective conditions
of the eyes, which may be remedied !;
or to the use of the eyes under wrong
conditions: Severe headaches fire.
quently recurring and extending over
many years; epilepsy; chorea. neu-
| ralgia. dizziness and various other
nervous troubles; mental backward
ness of children; lateral curvature of
the spine. due to faulty positions which
| improper lighting or defective eyes
cause pupils to assume; etc.
! Faulty Conditions of the Eyes---The
diseased or abnormal conditions of the
| eyes which are found in the schools
most frequently are:
! Near sight Umyopa). This is due to
a bulging out of the posterior part of
the globe of the eye. With improper
use, this trouble is likely to be pro-
| gressive and this giving way of the
| tissues of the eye at this point may
| give rise to various dangerous changes
| in the eye which may seriously affect
its usefulness or may even cause
blindness. The near sighted eye is al
| ways a diseased eye
Far sight (hypermetropia) is due to
a condition just the reverse of that in
myOpa. The anterior posterior diane
ter OF the eye is too short. In other
words the eye is too fiattened.
In some eyes there is an Irregular
ity of the curvature of their refracting
surfaces. For instance, the curvature
in the perpendicular plane may be
greater than that in the horizontal
plane. This is astigmatsm.
Eyes in which these troubles occur
| are always, in reading or other work.
under a disadvantage and a strain
| when these conditions are not correct
ed with suitable glasses. For in
stance, with astigmatism there are
two points on each retina at which the
rays of light come to an imperfect
focus and the unaided eye is vainly
trying to merge them into one.
Aside from these faulty relractive
| conditions there are sometimes abnOr-
NAL conditions OF the muscles inside or
outside the eye. whose use is to focus
the eye and to regulate it's visual
axis. This unbalanced condition of
the muscles. results in conveyance or
divergence of the eyes, or one may rise
above the other.
SchOOlroom tests may detect many
of, these abnormal conditions of the
eye, and if found or suspected the
pupils should be examined by physi-
} clan who is trained eye specialist
and who can judge of the interrelation
between the eyes and diseases or dis
turbances in other parts of the body,
as well as being able merely to fit
glasses.
Effect of School Work Upon the
Eyes-SchOol work, under favorable
conditions. has a strong tendency to
bring on diseased conditions of the
eyes. The unfavorable conditions may
be due to faults of the eyes which
should be corrected by glasses, or to
wrong methods of lighting school
rooms. Referring to one disease OF
the eye only, it is found that the per-
centage of pupils troubled with myopia
increases with, the number of years in
school: and the grade of the myopia
also increases with the grade Of the
school. That is, it increases from
class to class. For instance, in France
there was very little myopia in the
lowest classes II per cent. in the in
termediate, and as per cent. in the
most advanced classes In some of the
colleges it was much worse. The
same serious condition has been found
in the schools in other European coun-
} tries and in this country.
1t is found also that defective con-
ditions of the eyes come on more rap
Iidlv in schoolrooms which are improp-
erly lighted.
Right and Wrong Schoolroom Con-
lditions-In the schoolroom the eye is
the organ which is the most severely
taxed. The eye should therefore have
the best possible conditions arranged
for it's work.
The principal light in the school
room should come from the pupils
left The very best lighting is wheI
the light all comes from the left, pro
vided the schoolhouse can be 50
placed that the light comes from de
sirable points of the compass. Th'
next best with the principal light from
the left with small glass area at tn
rear.
Light from the right of the pupil il
bad for the reason that the puplli
hand. in writing, shows shadow upoi
his work. Light from right and ief
! gves troublesome cross-hghts Whlci
are trying to the eyes. Light in iron
of the pupils is absolutely bad ant
should never be tolerated The win
dows at the left which supply I'M
principal light should be massed WIT
the narrowest possible spaces betwee'
them.
Direct sunshine should not fall upol
or near the pupils desks, nor com
into the schoolroom during schoo
hours. The best light comes from tn
east, northeast, north. or northwest
Light from the southern window
c.-1I. L.