84 
precious still, echoing in his ears, while his muscles were being 
braced by exercise and his lungs refreshed with pure air, and all 
without injury to his eyes. The deterioration of the eye-sight in 
quite recent times is becoming a serious and very pressing con- 
sideration. In Germany, where the masses are certainly better 
educated than with us, nearly thirty per cent. of the labouring 
class have to wear glasses, while in the higher ranks no less than 
fifty per cent. have defective sight. In England too the per centage 
of persons with weak and defective vision is steadily and rapidly 
increasing. Various means have been proposed with a view to 
saving the eyes as much as possible, and books have been already 
printed ir dark blue print on a greenish or neutral paper, or black — 
on a buff ground, with this object, but all such devices appeag 
trivial when compared with the saving which might be affected by 
means of the Reading Machine. 
The time at my disposal will not permit me to continue my 
enumeration, but I hope I have said enough to show you that the 
past year has not been altogether unproductive of interesting 
scientific work 
In the course of a short discussion which followed, 
Dr. Tyson referred to that portion of the President’s address 
relating to sight. He said it was interesting to know that a great 
many more people were wearing spectacles now. They must re- 
member that the science of testing the eyesight had only very lately 
come into vogue. He often thought that boys at school many 
years ago were punished very often for not seeing things on the 
black board, whereas it was now generally acknowledged that their 
sight was defective. They knew now that the use of simple glasses 
early in life would remedy that defect, although they must admit 
that eyesight was gradually getting weaker. 
Mr, Walton asked if that could be explained, when it was well 
known that the average duration of life had increased during late 
years. 
The President said there was no doubt that sanitary improve- 
ments and a better knowledge of hygienic laws had caused the 
diminution in the death rate. He thought it was to be expected 
that both sight and hearing would be less acute owing to the higher 
state of civilisation in which we lived. There was such a thing as 
evolution, and as organs were exercised so they improved. People 
living in a more natural kind of life maintained their faculties of 
sight and hearing to a much greater extent than they do now, when 
they were living a much more artificial life than formerly. 
With reference to over eating, Mr. Walton asked the President 
Ln did not refer more especially to the consumptiou of animal 
‘ood, 
