THE FRIENDLY ARCTIC 201 



or so-called "smoke glasses," which are the poorest of all. Almost 

 any color will do when the sun is out, but in cloudy weather both 

 the chlorophyll green and the smoked glasses cut out too much 

 light and interfere so with clearness of vision that they are a distinct 

 handicap as compared with the amber glass. 



When through the use of poor glasses or none at all your eyes 

 are stricken, the symptoms do not develop at the time of exposure. 

 It may be after a long day's march that when you enter the tent 

 or snowhouse in the evening your eyes feel as if there were small 

 grains of sand in them. Such things as tobacco smoke or slight 

 fumes from a poorly-trimmed lamp will make them water exces- 

 sively. Gradually you begin to feel more sand in them and they 

 become uncomfortable and sore, but it will be towards morning be- 

 fore shooting pains begin. These pains resemble those of earache 

 or toothache and are said by persons who have had severe cases 

 to be the most intense they ever experienced. 



One feature of snowblindness is that each attack predisposes to 

 another. People who have never been in snow countries are likely 

 to remain immune and not suffer until the eyes have been exces- 

 sively exposed, but people such as the Eskimos who are subject 

 to the predisposing conditions every year are very readily affected. 

 Some of them have a sort of fatalistic idea that snowblindess is 

 inevitable and for that reason do not take enough precautions, al- 

 though they nearly always take some precautions. I have known 

 the severest cases of snowblindness chiefly among Eskimos. Men 

 whom I have reason to consider as stoical as the ordinary lie 

 moaning in bed with a skin or blanket over their heads, sleepless 

 for as much as twenty-four hours. The period of considerable 

 pain seldom extends over more than three days if one is in a dark- 

 ened room or wears black or amber glasses. After complete recov- 

 ery a second attack is not likely to come in less than a week, no 

 matter how the eyes are exposed, but careless persons will have 

 attacks every week or ten days.* 



Keeping the eye on some dark object is a valuable preventive. 

 On some trips we have had only one pair of amber glasses which 



*I have read a novel where the plot hinges on two things: (1) that a 

 snowblind person is temporarily stone blind; and (2) that when you have 

 recovered from snowblindness you can still pretend to be snowblind. The 

 first premise is ridiculous and the second untenable. A snowblind person is 

 not blind in any such sense as is required by the plot of this novel. During 

 severe snowblindness the tears flow as rapidly as in violent weeping. This 

 condition is difficult to simulate when you are getting better. Further, in the 

 movie made from the story no attempt is made by the snowblind actress to 

 simulate tears while she is supposed to be pretending to be snowblind. 



