EYE 



2121 



EZRA 



eyes during the act of drying the hands or 

 face. It should be remembered that many 

 diseases, like measles, grip and diphtheria, fre- 

 quently involve the eyes during their course, 

 and on the first evidence of eye symptoms the 

 physician or oculist should be consulted. An 

 uncompromising rule should be that an eye 

 discharging pus or matter is a dangerous eye, 

 dangerous to its owner and to everyone with 

 whom he comes in contact, and therefore 

 should not be neglected but should receive 

 immediate attention. 



Another rule of equal importance is that 

 one should never neglect even trivial condi- 

 tions of the eyes. They are exceedingly deli- 

 cate organs, and their value to the individual 

 for his happiness and comfort is probably 

 unequalled by any other organ of the body. 

 Early attention to all defects by a competent 

 oculist should be the watchword. Suitable 

 glasses should be worn, if required, and the 

 proper glass should always be worn when auto- 

 mobiling or when the eyes are exposed to 

 intense light. Dentists and workmen engaged 

 in occupations where flying particles are com- 

 mon should wear protective spectacles. Wear- 

 ing of veils with thick-figured meshes should 

 not be practiced, as such a custom tends to 

 develop eye strain. 



The eyes of infants require special care and 

 safeguarding. They should not be exposed 

 to bright light, and the shades of their little 

 carriages should be of dark-colored material, 

 which effectually shades them from the light. 

 In its early years the child should not be per- 

 mitted to use the eyes for prolonged periods, 

 looking at picture books, printed matter, etc., 

 or engage in close or near eye work for any 

 considerable length of time, for during their 

 formative periods children are very likely to 

 develop eye strain or other serious eye defects. 

 Outdoor enjoyments for growing children are 

 as desirable from an eye standpoint as from 

 that of general health. R.J.T. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 



Astigmatism 

 Blindness, with 



subheads on Diseases 



Cataract 

 Color Blindness 

 Senses, Special 



EZEKIEL, eze'kiel, a Jewish prophet who 

 was carried away with his people as a captive 

 by Nebuchadnezzar, when the latter took 

 Jerusalem in 597 B. c. He lived near the river 

 Chebar in Babylonia, was brought up under 

 the ministry of Jeremiah, the prophet, and 

 began his work when he was thirty years old, 

 continuing it for twenty-two years. The time 

 and manner of his death are unknown. The 

 book in the Old Testament known by his 

 name is filled with his prophecies, arranged 

 nearly in the order in which he delivered 

 them. They abound in figures of speech and 

 symbols referring to customs of his time, which 

 are unknown to-day. He is known as one of 

 the four great prophets, the others being Jere- 

 miah, Isaiah and Daniel, and is known espe- 

 cially as the prophet of the Captivity. 



EZ'RA, a Jewish scribe and high priest 

 whom Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, sent to 

 Jerusalem to investigate the civil and religious 

 condition of the Jewish community in 458 B. c. 

 Accompanied by 1,500 other Jewish exiles, 

 whom he was permitted to lead back to Pal- 

 estine, he arrived at his destination four 

 months after he left Babylon. He was much 

 amazed to find that many Jews had married 

 heathen wives, but he soon brought them back 

 to the observance of the Mosaic law. Thir- 

 teen years later, when Nehemiah came to 

 Jerusalem, Ezra took a leading part in reading 

 the law of Moses to the colony and did much 

 important work in preserving and circulating 

 the sacred books. He marks a transition from 

 the prophets to the scribes, and was, in a sense, 

 the forerunner of the rabbis who played so 

 important a part in the later Jewish life and 

 religion. Some Bible students believe that 

 Ezra was the author of the Pentateuch, but the 

 evidence is inconclusive. 



The Book of Ezra once included the book of 

 Nehemiah, but it is now a separate book of 

 the Old Testament. It is filled with public 

 records and documents which were copies of 

 letters sent to Persian kings by officials of his 

 provinces. There are two parts to the book; 

 the first deals with the return of the Jews 

 to Babylon in 538 B.C.; the second tells how 

 Ezra led the exiles home eighty years later. 



