The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-06-12
ARTIFICIAL EYES.
The Art of Making Them Resem-
bic Their Human Patterns.
MATCH IN SHAPE AND COLOR.

Hours--Made Of Glass, For Which
No Substitute Has Yet 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
rious natioDs 1t is hard to say. Up 70
the present time no discoveries have
been made that would offer enlighten-
ment on this subject. There are, II Is
true, few unauthenticated accounts
MS far back as the middle ages, but
the first reliable report is given by the
French surgeon Ambrose Pare in 1850.
Two kinds of artificial eyes were
known 10 him. the ekblepharos and
the hypoblepharos. The ekblepharos
was made by painting the eye and all
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 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. II being
then found possible to do away with
the metal shell altogether and employ
enamel and glass The material used
was 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,
II 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 a new technique |
in eye manufacture. Moreover. there |
can now be produced all the charac-
teristics of the human eye which had l
been possible in enamel work. The 1
new prosthetic eye received the name
reform eye" To be Of value. how
ever, 1t must be made to exactly ft
the eye socket.
Today 1t is possible to give to the re-
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 re-
place the breakable glass by vulcanite
or eelluloid. but such efforts have long
since been given up as useless.
In 1852 the method used in France
for making eyes was as follows: On
the broadly pressed end of small.
colorless, transparent rod Of enamel
the pupil was first made, and the Iris
was then formed on this by means OF
a 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 so
made. A glass tube. closed at one end
and of the color of the sclerotic, 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
ed off evenly and pressed little out.
ward. The iris is then placed In this
opening and well melted in. A thick
coating of glass remains behind. The
EYE is rounded of, the projecting rim
Of the white coat is smoothed with a
metal rod, and this coat is thereby
Joined to the sclerotic. BY means of a
hin, pointed red rod the blood vessels
% be seen on the hard coat of the
human eye are then melted in The
'uperfuous back part of the eyebaIl is
melted Off. thereby giving to the eye
he desired form. The eve is finally
placed on hot sand. where it becomes
cooled of.
Glass eyes are made in quite diff
'erent manner in Lauscha, the center
If this industry in Germany. where
heir manufacture is altogether a
louse industry. The eyes are usually
made by one member of family, and ,
he art is handed down from one gem /
ration to another. A gas fame is /
lsed for melting the glass. A small
lrop of white glass is put on the white
,lown ball from which the sclerotic is
o be made and is then blown so as to
make circle about eight millimeters
Obs inch) in diameter On this cir. {
lie the structure of the iris is built by {
means Of variously colored glass rods.
drop of black glass makes the pupil. {
)ver the finished iris crystal glass is
nelted In order TO initiate the cornea. I
The further manufacture is similar to 9
hat given in the first description. I
Ef.na.1.rfs w., r