DEFECTIVE EYE-SIGHT. 359 



the retina, but they are not received by a spontaneous, direct action of 

 that organ. The white surface of the paper is reflected, but the let- 

 ters are detected only by a discriminative effort of the optic nerves. 

 This effort annoys the nerves, and, when long continued, exhausts their 

 susceptibility. The human eye can not long sustain the broad glare of 

 a white surface without injury. The author of " Spanish Vistas," in 

 " Harper's Magazine," says of Cartagena that " blind people seem to be 

 numerous there, a fact which may be owing to the excessive dazzle of 

 the sunlight and the absence of verdure." Mr. Seward, in his tour 

 around the world, observed that " in Egypt ophthalmia is universal," 

 attributing it to the same " excessive dazzle " of the wide areas of 

 white sand ; and the British soldiers, in the late campaign in that 

 country, exhibited symptoms of the same disease. In the Smithsonian 

 Report for 1877 it is stated, in a paper on " Color-Blindness," that 

 "M. Chevreul has produced 14,420 distinguishable tints of the ele- 

 mentary colors, from which the paper-manufacturers could select col- 

 ors more agreeable to the eye than the dazzling white, so weakening 

 and lacerating to the nerves of that delicate organ." We know, too, 

 that the Esquimaux, wandering over their snowy plains, and the Arabs, 

 roving over their sandy deserts, are afflicted with inflammation of the 

 eyes, which often results in blindness. I once rode for hours over a 

 Western snow-covered prairie, and experienced the wearisome and irri- 

 tating glare ; and, had my ride been continued longer, I might have 

 found myself in the condition of the gentleman described in the 

 " Cheyenne (Wyoming Territory) Leader," of April 17th ult., as fol- 

 lows : " Ex-Governor John W. Hoyt was brought home in yesterday's 

 coach from the north suffering from snow-blindness. He left Cheyenne 

 on Thursday, and on Friday traveled all day over the snow while the 

 sun shone brightly upon it. The Governor suffered greatly from pain 

 in the eyes in the evening, and at length became totally blind. He 

 has not been able to use his eye-sight since. His physician, Dr. Gray, 

 expresses the belief that the Governor will recover his sight, but 

 must be kept in a dark room for a week." Lieutenant Danenhower, 

 who lost the use of one of his eyes from the reflection of light from 

 ice and snow in the Arctic Expedition of 1881, is a notable illustration 

 of this subject. 



From all these authorities and instances it does not seem unrea- 

 sonable to substitute some other than the universal color of our paper. 

 What color shall it be ? Nature and science declare that it should be 

 green. Green grass covers the ground, and green leaves are our cano- 

 py, and no color is so grateful to the eye. Plutarch said, in Demosthe- 

 nes, " it is universally acknowledged that we are not to abandon the 

 unhappy to their sorrows, but to endeavor to console them by rational 

 discourses, or by turning their attention to more agreeable objects — in 

 the same manner as we desire those who have weak eyes to turn them 

 from bright or dazzling colors to green or to others of a softer kind." 



