Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1942-04-14
Service Test
Reveals Eye.
Tooth Defects
Number Of Reflections
for Army Shocks All
BY DIR. LOGAN cLENDENING

w
BY DIR. LOGAN CLENDENING
T'HE whole country. including
the President of the United
States. has been unnecessarily
shocked on account of the num-
Der Of reflections for the new
army.
According to DR.. Roger I. Lee.
president of the American Col
lege of Physicians:
THE greatest per cent of
physical deferments In selective
service has been made so far for
defective teeth and defective
eyeslght, regulations for which
and the Interpretation thereof
by draft boards have been over
rigid"
Doctor Lee is notable for COM
ment is an example of il.
The teeth and the eyes are
very complicated anatomical in
struments and the theoretically
perfect set OF teeth and the
theoretically perfect set Of eyes
are very rare.
ITO TAKE the teeth. which
L can be more easily ex-
planned. II your two upper teeth
do not meet exactly the edges
OF your two lower teeth. then
you are In a defective class.
OF course, this doesn't mean
that your general health Is bad
or that you cannot do Just as
strenuous work as somebody
else whose teeth do happen to
occlude perfectly.
The eye is a spherical glo-
bule filled with liquid and nat
urally the geometrical projec-
ton OF the sphere is not Also
lutely perfect.
This does not necessarily re-
suit in bad eyesight and GER
tainly docs not necessarily mean
bad general health.
All such defects can be corr
rected by glasses and the ma
jority of then are corrected by
exercise and unconscious adap-
tatlon by the person himself.
Another common preventable
defect which was detected by
the selective service boards Is
squint or cross eye in one eve.
Many OF these have been cor
rected by surgery. Neglect OF
after-care in the way of eye
exercises sometimes makes the
operation useless. because such
exercises make the vision nearly
perfect.
A MOTHER cause IF rejection
"A has been opacities or scars
of the cornea.
The cause 81 this defect IL
possibly an infection or a lack
Of vitamin 3 complex, and when
healing has taken place the
amount Of visual defect is very
slight and is not likely to~return.
There is no reason for hys-
terra about the state OF the ma
tiOnal health on the basis Of the
rejection of draftees. especially
since the majority Of the rejee-
tons were made on the basis OF
dental and visual defects, which
have no significance as far as
general health is concerned, and
are easily corrected.
Many Of the fighting men with
one bad eye or a few missing
teeth in the last war cleaned
out machine gun nest.
Col. Leonard Rowntree, chief
Of the medical division of the
national selective service head
quarters. stated that:
"Selective service Is holding n
mirror before the public and
giving the facts and indica ting
the need.
ION this basis should he built
new public health for the
nation"
In a general way I agree with
this. and that il is necessary to
have methods Of public educa-
ton and treatment of eye and
teeth defects in the public
schools; better lighting condi-
tions and safety measures in all
industrial plants are also essen
tial.
QUESTIONS, ANSWERS
F. w. b: In our school the
children may purchase whole
milk or chocolate drinks for
mid-morning lunch. Am I I'M
duly prejudiced against choco-
late, or is il true that the milk
is much better for them? The
bottle cap reads whole milk.
skim milk, chocolate flavor and
sugar )" The chocolate drink is
very popular and some children
have II every school day.
Answer: The chocolate flavor
docs not modify the value of
whole milk. If l understand you
correctly, in supposing that the
n i