ACCOMMODATION. Ill 



glasses. Five years before, when she was between twelve 

 and thirteen years old, both eyes had been operated upon for 

 cataract by the method of discission. After the absorption 

 of the lenses had been completed, she was furnished with 

 two pairs of glasses, one for the distance and the other for 

 near work. Immediately after this, she went to California, 

 and, shortly after going on board ship, she lost the glasses in- 

 tended for near work, and had to rely entirely on her glasses 

 for the distance. This pair had now become very much 

 worn, and she simply wished to have them accurately meas- 

 ured, and a new pair made precisely like them. I found 

 them to be convex, three and a half inch focus ; and, with 

 these glasses, vision was a little better than two-thirds of the 

 normal standard. 



" To my surprise, the patient then picked up a newspa- 

 per, and, pushing this back and forth, as persons ordinarily 

 do who are trying glasses, remarked that she could see per- 

 fectly well, quite as well, in fact, as with the old pair. This 

 drew my attention more particularly to the case, and the re- 

 sult of a more critical examination was as follows : 



" With -f 3^7, the patient read with either eye fluently 

 Snellen, XXX., and was able, with both eyes, to pick out 

 most of the letters of XX. at twenty feet. She could read 

 No. X. at ten feet, and No. V. at five feet. 



" With the same glass, and with no change of position on 

 the nose, she read No. I.-J Snellen fluently, holding the book 

 naturally at twelve inches, which was about the distance at 

 which she ' usually read.' The book was then gradually 

 withdrawn, the patient reading aloud while this was done. 

 It was found that twenty-one and a half inches was the great- 

 est distance at which No. I.-J- Snellen could be read. She 

 read No. I. Jaeger at twenty inches. The book was then ad- 

 vanced inch by inch, the patient reading aloud, till the book 

 was within five inches of the eye. Inside of this, reading be- 

 came impossible. These experiments were tried over and 

 over again by myself, and were finally repeated in the pres- 

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