THE CARE OF THE BRAIN. 389 



many times to hear medical men of intelligence support such a state- 

 ment, and to urge their patients to avoid glasses as long as possible, in 

 order that they might not become dependent upon them. To those 

 who hold that idea, I would simply say that if they will read the 

 article written by Dr. Loring upon this subject (" Harper's Monthly," 

 August, 1879), and one by myself on a somewhat similar field ("New 

 York Medical Journal," February, 1886), they will be convinced of 

 their error and the sad results that may occur from such ignorance. 



I earnestly advise, therefore, every parent to consult some expert 

 (not an optician), before sending a child to school, and thus to ascer- 

 tain if the organs of sight be anatomically perfect. If they are not so, 

 the health and mental vigor of the child are liable to be slowly under- 

 mined. 



I have seen serious damage done both to the health and mind of a 

 child by the neglect on the part of parents to remedy an optical de- 

 fect early by glasses. Many evil results may arise from the neglect 

 of this simple precaution. Children very often become cross-eyed 

 the laughing-stock of their playmates in consequence of an optical 

 defect that has not been corrected early. Again, they frequently de- 

 velop habits of idleness and incur the censure of their instructors on 

 account of some optical defect, because their eyes cause them an 

 indescribable sense of weariness when study is attempted, which a 

 child is unable to withstand. I have encountered many adults who 

 have struggled on to manhood with an ocular defect of which they 

 were unconscious suffering excruciating headache and many other 

 symptoms of nervous derangement. When glasses brought relief at 

 last, they have experienced an unknown sense of delight in reading 

 and mental effort. I recall an instance of this character where a pa- 

 tient of mine would frequently rub a blistering lotion into the hair to 

 relieve a headache that was almost incessant, and unfitted him for 

 mental or physical labor. Glasses brought about a cure that was to 

 him miraculous. The eyes of a child are fortunately more pliable and 

 elastic, if we may use such an expression, than of an adult ; hence 

 some optical defects may be compensated for by muscular effort for 

 years, although always with detriment to the physical vigor. 



It is a difficult matter in many instances to make laymen, and even 

 those of the medical profession who have given this matter little atten- 

 tion, appreciate the difference between " seeing without effort " and 

 "seeing with eye-strain." The perfectly constructed eye should bring 

 the images of all objects removed from it beyond the twenty-foot 

 limit to a focus exactly upon the retina icithout any effort on its own 

 part. It should be able to afford distinct vision of distant objects 

 while passive ; and thus rest itself from the fatigue of focusing ob- 

 jects within a circle of twenty feet radius. The far-sighted eye knows 

 no such repose during the wakeful hours. Although the vision is 

 very acute in most far-sighted children and in spite of the fact that 



