New Britain herald., 1917-04-12
BL1NDNEssIN AMERICA.

Since 1880 there has been in this country an alarming increase. in the proportion of the blind who lost their sight during the early or middle years of adult life. In the forthcoming government report on the blind in the United States this increase is at tributed in part to the great indus trial growth of the nation. Some ln- dustries which have started here in the past thirty years naturally carry with them possibilities of blindness from occupational injury or disease.
 There are to date more than 50,OOO blind persons in the United States. The Bureau of Census which has com piled the data bases its statistics on an enumeration of the blind made in connection with the census of 1910. The blind population enumerated then was 57,272. By sending out special schedules through the mails the gov ernment obtained valuable informa- tion concerning thes cause of blind- ness in some fs'ooo cases, and the age when it occurred. Approximately one-third of the blind population lost their sight when less than twenty years of age. This includes those born blind. One half. in round mum bers, lost their sight during the early and middle ages of adult life. A little
 ~f hA 1, rnnn reached that stage in old age. That is, after passing the sixty-fifth year. Thus are the blind grouped in three classes,--thc young. the middle aged, and the old. More persons were re- ported as having lost their sight when less than five years old than in any othsr five-year period. One-sixth of the total number of blind are included in that group. Persons reported as born blind formed slightly more than six per cent. of the total. Five per cent of the blind population Lost their sight when less than one year old. The significance of these figures Is seen when it is pointed out that more
 than ten per cent of ali the blind
 than six years old. That is where the
 fight must be made. to save the young.
 The fact that, on the average, 30,O00
 of the blind had been so for sixteen
 years also makes plain the gravity Of
 their misfortune. The complete elini-
 nation of the risk of blindness in
 infancy, childhood, and youth, would
 reduce the blind population of the
 country by nearly one-third. And
 this risk is relatively small.
 Similarly the elimination of the risk
 of blindness during the early middle years of adult life would reduce the blind population by nearly one-half. while the elimination of the high risk in old age would cause d reduction of only one-fifth in the number of existing i cases. Of course, the earlier the age l at which the sight is lost, the greater the magnitude Of the misfortune. l Loss of sight in infancy means life of blindness. Loss of sight in old age ordinarily means only a few years of ! that .aifEction. For this reason the increase in individual happiness and l the benefits to society in genera which would accrue from successful campaign against blindness in early life would obviously be vastly greater than would result from correspond 1 ing reduction in the blindness oc- curing in old age It is encoura ging to note, however, that since 1880 there has been a dis tinct decrease in the proportion of blind who lost their sight in infancy. Great progress has been made toward preventing blindness among infants through the use of the Crede method of prophylaSis for eve diseases of the new born. This E:etlod which was discovered in 1884 is :; simple ap- plicatiOn of any of the Silver Salts, Eventually every state in the Union must make it compulsory to apply some treatment of this sort to the eyes of the new born.