THE BEST EYE GLASSES ARE OF CHINESE ORIGIN 



For many centuries the Chinese have worn eye glasses, not only to 

 improve their vision, but also to restore their eyes to normalcy. Be- 

 fore manufacturing eye glasses, the Chinese studied Nature and based 

 their ideas on her five principal elements, viz., the mineral, vegetation, 

 water, fire and earth elements. 



The best Chinese eye glasses are made of natural water-crystal 

 rock, instead of being manufactured from artificial glass. This water- 

 crystal rock is obtainable either in high mountain streams or in places 

 where the sun seldom shines. It is always as cold as snow. When it is 

 made into eye glasses it has a tendency to draw the heat from the 

 eyes. When a person uses his eyes steadily for any length of time the 

 eye muscles are weakened and the eyes sometimes become inflamed, as 

 well as very tired. The crystals, being so cold and belonging to the 

 water element, counteract the heat, "the fire element," in the eyes and 

 keep them cool. 



In addition to benefiting the eyes by using rock crystals for eye 

 glasses, the Chinese use tortoise shell eye glass rims. The tortoise 

 spends most of its life in deep water. It is dark in color. Both its 

 nature and color belong to the water element. The water-crystal rock 

 and the tortoise shell rims therefore harmonize and constitute a com- 

 plete outfit for protection and benefit of the eyes. 



These crystal eye glasses with tortoise shell rims are worn chiefly 

 by Chinese officials and scholars. Only recently has the Chinese idea 

 for making eye glasses been adopted by other nations. However, these 

 nations make extensive use of inflammable celluloid (composed chiefly 

 of soluble guncotton and camphor) and artificial glass in imitation of 

 the color and appearance of the Chinese glasses. Not only does this 

 imitation fail to give the benefit of the genuine crystal and tortoise 

 shell rim eye glasses, but it perhaps accounts for the fact that eye 

 glasses have to be changed or refitted so frequently in Occidental 

 countries. Persons who wear eye glasses are seldom able to differ- 

 entiate between good and poor glass, worn in front of their eyes. The 

 writer of this article prefers to care for his eyes by taking properly 

 compounded herbs. 



In addition to the rock crystal, which is Nature's, element, there are 

 herbs for the eyes which have helped many people when the eye spe- 

 cialists have failed. 



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