The Washington herald., 1915-07-10

| Copynght, l9l5D
| A woman remarked to me the other
day that she should think that there
would be some form Of remedial ex-
ercises for the eyes and the vision;
] that. while most congenital defects
wefe remedied by some form of nat
ural exercising, the eye muscles were
never trained or strengthened in this
way.
My friend was wrong. Those VINO
| have made a study of the nerves and
the muscles of the body have under
| stood for long time that the vision
may be strengthened by proper eye
exercises. Exercises for preserving
and increasing the range of vision are
very simple and along natural lines.
Some of these are done instinctively
by men whose occupations demand ac-
| curate and long vision, such as engi-
neers and seamen. 1t is quite common
to find a man who has followed such
occupations for fifty years possessing
| remarkable vision without the AID of
glasses
Eye specialists are making extern
sive use of this theory. especially In
the case of young people, not only
to increase the vision. but to remedy
conditions where there is lack OF CO.
ordination in the eye muscles or an
inability properly to focus the eyes.
I saw recently an interesting treat
ment in the Office of a celebrated
oculist who was treating a boy of mr.
teen who was suffering from an in
herited condition of the eyes that in
cluded astigmatism. myopia and lack
of coordination OF the muscles.
Three times day the boy went
through the following exercise: He
held a pencil vertically at arms length
directly in front of the eyes and very
slowly brought it toward him as close
to the eyes as possible without the
pencil appearing as two. Once a week.
under the oculist's direction, the pa
tient put on specially-constructed
glasses that would throw the object
out of focus. increasing the strength
of the glasses by degrees SO as to in
crease the focusing power of the
eyes
l am citing these two exercises be-
cause in the case in mind the result
was excellent Exercises of this sort
must. of course. be adapted to suit
different conditions The point l wish
to make, however. is that any aonor-
NAL condition of the eyes due to de-
fects in the muscles or in the action
Of the muscles is susceptible of i'm
provement by exercises.
The percentage of children suffer-
ing from myopia in one form or an
otner Is astonlshlnSly large In the
public schools of our large cities. 1!
believe that this could be remedied
and that the vision Of the normal eye
could be very much improved by some
general eye exercises. The physical
growth of city-bred children is ham,
pered in many ways and most of their
work and their play calls for only a
limited range of vision. You will not
find shortsightedness SO common
among country children or those who
live among the hills or near the sea
where the daily life makes length or
vision necessary.
Now that the vacation time is upon
us and we have our children away
from school, and. I hope. in the coun- !
try in the camp or beside some big /,
body of water, it would be a good
plan to test the normal eyesight. En-
the eyes to rest on objects
at a distance and then to increase the |
sight by, looking farther and then |!
farther is most excellent exercise for |
the normal eye and should result in |
improvement.
The eye should not be strained to |
the point of fatigue, neither should |
squirting be encouraged The proven !
bal squint of the sailor is due to his |
protecting the eyes from !
sun or wind. Don't let the children |
expose their eyes to the glare OF the !
sun; this is abuse. not use. Teach !
them to protect their eyes from all |
undue conditions Of climate, to keep |