The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-12-17
Your Health By WILLIAM BRADY, M. D.
BLUE EYED BABIES IN
 EVERY FAMILY

I read in your column some time ago, says a correspondent who has just lost a bet, that all babies are born with brown eyes and -. your confirmation of this will bring me ten dollars, just like that =. co. O.
 Of course I can't confirm, affirm or deny what you may have read in my column Sometimes I am abash- ed at what I read in it myself. But for your discontinue and the assur. ance of many other readers l shall repeat what I have said here many times before, to wot: All babies are blue eyed at birth, and per- rnanent pigmentation of the irises Ccolor rings around central dark pupils) appears after four to SIX weeks.
 The term blue eyed" or blue eyes" is not scientifically correct, TOT as a matter of fact all human eyes, of whatever race. sex, age or com plexion you examine, are orown- that is, ali except the eyes Of al- binos. Albinas have no pigment in their irises.
 It is merely the variable amount of pigment in the iris Of the eye that makes different eyes seem blue" grey" brown" or black" " The pigment itself is always brown, and so the eyes are always brown, no matter whether they have the least pigment and hence look blue" or the most pigment and hence seem black"
 Parents with lighter colored eyes ("blue" or "grey') have children with lighter colored eyes. and par ents with darker eyes brown" or 'black") have children with dark eyes. as a rule, although this is by no means invariable. The pigment of the hair and the pigment of the skin. may be light in some children of darker parents or dark in some children of lighter parents.
 Another popular notion about the eyes is equally unscientific-the mo- ton that this one has "big" or large" eyes and that one has little" or small" eyes Actual measurement of the size of the eyes of any two individuals of the same body size shows no significant dit- ference, even if the ones eyes look large" and the others eyes look small" The angle of the palpebral Assure, as we scientific fellers call 1.-the width of opening of the eye lids-largely determines the large or small" appearance of the eyes"
 Then I infer from many letters that there is a common impression that eyes can be "transplanted" now. Of course that is fantastic. What is transplantable is the cornea the clear membrane or front win dow of the eyeball - to replace corneal covering which has been scared or damaged by injury, ulcer etc, and is no longer transparent. This is similar to skin grating. If the auarter-inch or haif-inch clear corneal tissue takes" then the blurred sight of the patient may be restored to more useful vision than could possibly be obtained other wise.
 Smoking
 Mother doesn't want to worry me, but she tells me smoking cigarettes during pregnancy gives the unborn child a predisposition to cancer she says this is a proven scientific fact My baby. now one year old, seems perfectly healthy and happy, but mother still says.
 (Mrs. D. H.
 Answer-I1l go along with your mother to this extent-smoking by the expectant mother never does her or the iI stranger any good. But so far as I know, 1t has noth- ing to do with cancer or predisposi- ton to cancer. The consensus of medical authorities seems to be that as long as the smoking has no un- toward effect on the expectant mothers health 1t will not affect the health of her unborn child.
 (couvri9ht Io46. John P. Dilie Col