Pueblo chieftain., 1921-12-24
RECREATION FOR YOUR Eyes

out having q complete history of the
case, but it is possible. he thinks, that
the lightning stroke and the hoy 8
subsequent Inconsistencies brought
about a relaxed condition of the eyes
which relieved them of their habitual
strain and produced normal vision as
IL by miracle.
DR.. Bates has written book on the
correction of imperfect vision without
glasses in which he describes many
patients who were able to discard their
glasses in periods ranging from hours
to weeks. Some felt immediate relief
after n twenty-minute period of relax
alton. Others had to keep it up for
two or three ten-minute periods each
day over a longer period. One man,
who had always suffered from defec
| tive vision and who had worn glasses
since he was a boy. devoted one en-
tire day to the relaxation process. sit
ting quietly In darkened room and
languidly summoning long procession
OF black objects to mind. At the end
| OF the day he was amazed to find that
he could see perfectly without his
| horn-rmmed spectacles.
"Ophthalmologists tell us that the
visual organ OF man was never in
| tended for the uses to which 1t is now
put" DR.. Bates explains in his book.
| Long before there We're any schools
or printing presses, electric lights or
| moving pictures. II was complete. In
| those days 1t served tho need of the
human animal perfectly. Man was a
hunter, hsrdsman. a farmer. n fight
er. He needed. wo are told, mainly dis
| tant vision, and since tho eye Mt rest
Is adjusted for distant vision. sight Is
| supposed to have been ordinarily as
| passive as the perception of sound
requiring no muscular. action what
ever. H.
CIVILIZATION INJURIES EYES
| While primitive man appears to
havo suffered but little from defects
of vision. 1t is estimated that OF per-
| sons over 81 living under civilized con-
| ditions, out OF every 10 have impcr-
feet sight. and AS tho age increases the
proportion increases until at 40 II is al
most impossible TO find II person FREQ
from visual defects. Statistics of the
army show this conclusively"
DIR. Bates examines on an average OF
10000 pairs OF eyes "a year at tho New
York Eye and Far lnfirmary and other
institutions. ''1n this work" he SAYS,
Il noticed many cases In which errors
OF rcfraction either recovered spon-
tancously or changed their form. and
was unable either 10 ignore them or
to satisfy myself with the orthodox
explanations. In course of time dis
covered that myopia and hyper
metropia. like astigmatism. could be
bhtuuN'i bA VIII. tIluI ilNpDla WGS NOT,
as We have long believed. associa ted
with the use of tho eyes at the near
point. but with n strain to sec distant
objects. strain at the ncar-point be-
Ing associated with hypermctropia
that no error OF rcfraction was ever
constant condition. and that tho low
or degrees of rcfractive error were cur
ahc. while higher degrees could be
improved.
Finally. after series Of obscrva-
tons upon the eyes OF human beings
aud animals, | convinced both myself
and others that the lens is not n
factor In accommodation. and that the
adjustment necessary for vision at dir
fercnt distances is effected I'm the eve
precisely as IL Is In the camora, by n
change in the length OF the organ. this
alteration being brought about by tho
action OF the muscles on the outside
of the globe"
Heretofore. tho theory has been that
the shape OF the oyc-ball controlled the
sight. a normal eye was supposed TO
remain normal whereas 1t is constantly
being demonstrated that normal vision
Is ofton impaired.
Tn tho thirty years I have devoted
To the study of refraction." Or Bates
declares, ~ have found few people who
could maintain perfect sight for more
than u few minutes at time even in
tho most favorable conditions. Similar
~ ! nave found no eyes with contin-
uous or unchanginE errors OF rcfrac-
ton. all persons with errors OF rcfrac-
tion having Mt frequent intervals dur
ing the day and night moments of
normal vision. when their myopia
hypermctropia or astigmatism wholly
disappears. The form of the error also
changes. myopia even changing into
hypermctropia. and one form of astig-
matism into another"
This new ophthslmic theory now
forms the basis of the work OF a num-
Der OF prominent eye specialists, and at
least ono New York hospital has "A
gymnasium for the eyes. Instead being
handed crutches in the form of glasses,
the patients of this hospital are given
course in eyo muscle development
and relaxation, Just as Indian clubs
and dumb-bclls arc given people in
need OF greater chest expansion.