G92 Mr. Ernest Clarke [June 9, 



I have just received from the War Office their last concession, 

 and they say that if an individual can read D = 24 at 20 ft., or 

 ('. metres, without glasses with the right eye, and not less than D = 60 

 witli the left eye without glasses, he wdll be considered fit. 



To show how effete this old system is, I will give you an example 

 illustrating how^ people who get into the Army may be far worse from 

 the eyesight point of view than those who are prevented from 

 getting in. 



Let us assume that two men, aged twenty, are applying for 

 commissions. One has a myopia of 6 D, and the other hypermetropia 

 of 6 1). If you look at Diagram I. you will see that at the age of 

 twenty the ordinary individual has 10 dioptres of accommodative 

 power, so that if he has a hypermetropia of 6 D he has 4 left for 

 near work, so that he practically " romps " in. The myope has no 

 chance of getting in, but we will assume for the moment that he gets 

 in by dodging his examiner. 



Assume now that these men are seen fifteen years later on the 

 field of battle, and they have both lost their glasses. A written 

 despatch from the General is handed to the + 6 man ; by that time 

 he has lost so much of his accommodative power that all that is left 

 him he has to use up to correct his defect, and cannot read without 

 glasses ; the — 6 man has to read it, and can read it ; and he will 

 be able to read without glasses when he is a hundred ! Which of 

 the two is the more useful man now ? Surely the myope who ought 

 not to have been admitted under our present regulations. I think 

 you could not have a better illustration of the reason for getting rid 

 of this effete system. 



What I have previously said about officers applies equally to the 

 ordinary soldier. If there were any objection to a spectacled man 

 being in the front firing line, this could easily be avoided by placing 

 him in some department where glasses would be no disability. But 

 what we want to see is that in the future, not only for this War but 

 for all time, glasses will no longer be considered a disability in the 

 English Army. In the Navy you can quite understand that, owing 

 to weather conditions, glasses cannot be allowed. Therefore, it 

 would be wise to advise those who have specially good sight to 

 enter the senior Service. 



I have referred under this heading to myopia because that is the 

 commonest cause which keeps men from getting into the Army ; but 

 high hypermetropia, or high astigmatism, both of which are curable 

 by glasses, keep many men out of the Army under the old system. 

 At the beginning of the War I saw a young man who was in splendid 

 condition, but he had high astigmatism. In his particular case he 

 saw quite well when he looked through a horizontal slit, and he 

 could read -^ with the eyes half shut, but with the eyes open he 

 could not read ,j%. By personal influence we got that man into the 

 Army, and I am pleased to say that he has since received the D.S.O, 



