Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-06-21
ARTIFICIAL EYES.
The Art Of Making Them Resem-
BILE Their Human Patterns.
MATCH IN SHAPE AND COLOR.

MATCH IN SHAPE AND COLOR.
! They Fit the Eye Socket Perfectly and
May Even es Worn During Sleeping
Hours-Mads Of Glass, For Which
No Substitute Has Vet Been Found.
Germany leads all other countries in
.. the manufacture Of artificial eyes.
The American consul general at Co.
. burg relates that probably ever since
the beginning Of the world civilized
people have endeavored to hide or
remedy any flaw in their appearance,
such as the loss Of an eye would
cause. How this was done by the va
rtous nations it is hard to say. Up to
the present time no discoveries have
been made that would offer enlighten-
ment on this subject There are. 1t u
true. a few unauthenticated accounts
as far back as the middle ages. but
the first reliable report is given BY the
French surgeon Ambrose Pare In 1860.
Two kinds Of artificial eyes were
known to him. the ekblepharos and
the hypoblepharos. The ekblepharos
was made by painting the eye and al
surrounding parts as far as the brows
on a plate. which was placed In front
Of the eye socket and held in position
by a string tied over the head. The
hypoblepharos was used in manner
similar to that Of today. being put be-
hind the eyelid. in the eye socket It.
self. and was composed Of q metal
shell Of copper. silver or gold. covered
with enamel and glass fusions.
1t was only at the close Of the eight
eenth century that these artificial eyes
really became Of practical use. It being
then found possible to do away with
the metal shell altogether and employ
enamel and glass. The material used
was a soft lead glass. easily shaped,
but also easily destructible. and an
eye had to be renewed every three or
four months to prevent the socket
from becoming affected.
1t is known that in the middle Of the
nineteenth century eyes were made BY
enamelers in Dresden, Prague. London
and Stockholm. and in Thuringia. The
Thuringian makers were not enamel.
ers, but glassblowers working In con-
nection with the porcelain. painting in
dustry. whose endless and untiring
experiment resulted in the discovery
Of an ideal material. cryolite glass. the
use Of which led to q new technique
in eye manufacture. Moreover. there
can now be produced all the charac.
teristics Of the human eye which had
been possible in enamel work. The
new prosthetic eye received the name
reform eye" To be Of value. how
ever, 1t must be made to exactly ut
the eye socket.
Today it IL possible to give to the -
form eye any form and color desired.
and in most cases it can be even worn
at night. thereby preventing the lid
from sinking into the socket and the
lashes from sticking together. At
times attempts have been made to r.
place the breakable glass by vulcanits
or celluloid. but such efforts have long |
since been given up az useless.
In 1852 the method used in France
for making eyes was as follows: On !
the broadly pressed end Of a small,
colorless, transparent rod Of enamel
the pupil was first made. and the iris
was then formed on this by means Of
! small. thin pointed, colored enameled
rod.. the designing Of the iris being
made possible by melting the point Of
this rod
In Paris the good eyes are now 10
made. A glass tube, closed at one end
and Of the color of the sclerot1c. is
next blown into the form Of an oval.
and in the middle Of this a hole is
melted. the edges Of which are round
I'd OF evenly and pressed little out.
ward. The iris 10 then placed in this
opening and well melted in. A thick
coating Of glass remains behind. The
,ye is rounded of, the projecting rim
II the white coat is smoothed with a
metal rod. and this coat is thereby
|oined to the sclerotic. BY means Of q
hin, pointed red rod the blood vessels
o be seen on the hard coat Of the
luman eye are then melted In. The
'uperfluous back part Of the eyeball Is
Melted OIL. thereby giving to the eye
he desired form. The eye is finally
placed on hot sand. where it becomes
gradually cooled of.
Glass eyes are made in quite dif-
'erent manner in Lauscha. the center
Il this industry in Germany. where
heir manufacture is altogether a
louise industry. The eyes are usually
made by one member of a family, and
he art is handed down from one gen.
'ration to another. A gas fame is l.
lsed for melting the glass. A small
lrop Of white glass is put on the white l.
'lown ball from which the sclerodc is
o be made and Is then blown so as to
make circle about eight millimeters
0.315 inch, in diameter On this cir
1e the structure Of the iris is built by