EFFECTS OF STUDY ON THE EYESIGHT. 7S 



acter, cause, and progress, have enlisted the earnest attention of the 

 most eminent oculists, especially during the last decade. The move- 

 ment received its first impulse from a suggestion of Prof. Donders, 

 made in 1864. It originated, therefore, at the very fountain-head of 

 influence and authority in ophthalmology ; for Donders was one of 

 the three men who led in what is now styled " The Great Reforma- 

 tion," wrought some twenty-five years ago, in the treatment of defects 

 and diseases of the eye. To illustrate the character of this change, 

 Dr. Agnew, of New York, in his analysis of 1,065 cases of asthenopia 

 (weak sight), thus describes the standard treatment for this disease 

 only thirty years ago : 



" Blisters, mercury, low diet, tartar-emetic, bloodletting, applications of irri- 

 tating alkaloids, such as veratria, to the eircuni-ocular parts, and setons, were 

 freely employed. Sometimes the sufferers were so subdued or silenced by the 

 treatment that they ceased to complain of their eyes, preferring to endure the 

 ills they had, rather than to endure those which the attempts to relieve their as- 

 thenopia led them to. So common was this treatment," he continues, " that 

 more than one clever irregular practitioner made his fame and fortune in put- 

 ting the exhausted subjects of it under hygienic rules, and giving them new life 

 and hope by a generous dietary and free out-of-door life ; thus showing how so- 

 called quackery is often the natural offspring of our ignorance." 



The suggestion of Prof. Donders is found in his work, "Accommo- 

 dation and Refraction of the Eye," and is as follows : 



" It, would be of great importance to possess accurate statistics of the near- 

 sight and far-sight occurring at a given time in a particular category of men, es- 

 pecially, fur example, among the students of a university, in order to be able to 

 compare them witli the results of repeated investigations at subsequent periods. 

 If it were thus found and I can scarcely doubt that it would be so that near- 

 sight is progressive in cultivated society, this would be a very serious phenom- 

 enon, and we should earnestly think of means of arresting this progression. Not 

 only is the near-sighted person not in a condition to discharge all civil duties, 

 not only is he limited in the choice of his position in society, but in the higher 

 degrees near-sight leads to disturbance of the power of vision, and threatens its 

 subject with incurable blindness." 



About two years after this, Dr. Cohn, of Breslau, published the 

 startling result of his investigations, which had taken the form of an 

 inquiry into the effects of study on the eyesight. Similar investiga- 

 tions followed in various parts of Europe. 



A like movement is progressing in this country, which was initi- 

 ated by Dr. Cornelius R. Agnew, of New York. Under his auspices, 

 examinations have been made in New York, Brooklyn, and Cincin- 

 nati. Dr. Edward G. Loring, Jr., and Dr. Peter A. Callan, of New 

 York; Dr. Lucien Howe, of Buffalo; and Dr. Hasket Derby, of Bos- 

 ton, have reported investigations in the same direction. 



In some of these investigations the suggestion of Donders has 

 been literally followed ; while in most of them the effect of several 



