The Marietta journal. (Marietta, Ga.) 1918-1944, 1919-09-26
HOW ARE The CHILDREN?

HUW hNE III UEl1LUNEV.
They are doing things over in AID
bamal
They have recently had an educa-
tional survey of the state at cost
of nearly twenty-five thousand dol
lars. All this just to find out def
nitely what their needs were! The
way it was brought about, the Leg
islature appropriated ten thousand
dollars. and the United States Bureau
Of Education did the rest. The Blu
geau of Education made the survey.
It was done by specialists. There was
a specialist in rural education, and
specialist in higher education, and
one in administration, and one in
home economics, and one in agricul-
ture, and one in child health, and
so on-some twenty or more all to-
gether Their report is published by
the Bureau of Education, Washington,
and can be had for the asking.
In that survey Chambers county was
selected for health studies. If you
were to take the states of Georgia and
Alabama and put them together,
Chambers county would be almost in
! the middle. So that for all practical
purposes it represents Georgia about
as well as does Alabama The find
ings in Chambers county ought to in
terest Georgians.
Studies were made in the schools
OF Chambers county of eyes, lids,
teeth, height, weight, nutrition, ad-
vancement and retardation. This is
just to tell you about the eyes. The
rest will be saved for another story
for several other stories.
The best general eye test at our
disposal is known as the "Snellen"
test
The Snellen test consists of a chart
OF letters. The top row is of very
large letters. The next row is not
quite so large. The third row still
less large, and then they get smaller
and smaller to the bottom
And each row of letters is labelled,
showing how far away it can be read
by the normal eye. The top row can
be read at distance of two hundred
feet the next row one hundred then
eighty feet. fifty feet, twenty feet, and
ten feet
To use the chart it is hung up on
the wall. and the child placed back
twenty feet from It, One eye is test
ed at time, the other being covered
but not closed. II he can read the let
tiers that should be read at twenty
feet, he has 20/20 vision in that eye,
or normal vision. But If he can only
read those that should be read at
forty feet, he has 20/40, or half Wis
ion, and so on.
Now here is what was found.
One child in every four had 2O/2O
vision in both eyes. Three out of
four children had less than 1920 WIS.,
ion in at least one eye!
But a vision that is just a little
sub-normal in one or both eyes may
not be serious. Say a vision Of 1920
with no other signs of eye-strain, would
not be taken seriously, but should be
kept under surveillance. About so out
OF hundred children were Just a
little below 1920 In these cases
the teachers were advised to keep
on the lookout for evidences of eve
strain, and that was all. If eye strain
should develop in one of these chill
nrGn c
Then comes the serious group
those in which one or both eyes had
a vision of 1920 or less. There were
about twenty out of a hundred that
showed a vision that defective.
In many cases it was only one eye
defective, while tho other checked I'D
TO 1920. When one eye is all right
and the other little off this is what
happens: The good eye does most OF
the work. while the other loiters on
tie job. Now the eye that is not
working suffers from disuse, and ac-
tUally gets worse and worse. Chill
dren even. go blind in one eye with
out the parents ever discovering it.
s0nce in group of 100 children. the
writer found six that had practically
the vision in one eye through disuse
Sometimes when one eye falls into
disuse, it goes crossed. This will very
readily happen if the muscles that
hold it straight are little out of
balance. Did you ever hear of doc
tor putting glasses on child to cor
rect cross-eyes? All he does is to
correct the error or refraction and put
the eye to work, and it straightens it.
self OUT
In Chambers county. Alabama, it
was found that some three out of
hundred children had almost lost the
vision of one eye through disuse And
there is no reason to assume that
Chambers county, Alabama, is essen
tally different from Troup county,
Georgia. or any other county in Geor-
gia or Alabama. for that matter. The
essential difference is that Cham
bers county has found out about it,
and has taken steps to have it cor
,acted That is the Difference no+s