THE EYES 243 



but, in doing this, one can protect the eyes with the 

 other hand. We should be careful not to look through 

 a microscope or any other optical instrument for too 

 extended a time, as it is very trying to the eyes. 



When our eyes feel uncomfortable, they should not 

 be rubbed with the warm hand, but bathed in cold 

 water. Rubbing is likely to add to the irritation, while 

 cold water cleanses and refreshes. On rising each 

 morning, or after a nap, bathing the eyes in cold 

 water is an excellent practice. Cold water has the 

 same bracing, refreshing effect on the eyes that it has 

 on other parts of the body, and so the bath furnishes 

 an excellent stimulus for any work that is to follow. 



Especial care should be taken with the eyes of 

 infants. Shortly after birth their eyes are sometimes 

 sore and give an unpleasant discharge. At such times 

 a physician should always be consulted and his direc- 

 tions should be faithfully followed, or blindness may 

 result. It is estimated that one-tenth of all blindness 

 is due to lack of attention to this discharge from the 

 eyes of infants. In a recent report. Dr. F. Park 

 Lewis, President of the Board of Trustees of the New 

 York State Asylum for Blind Children at Batavia, 

 states that of one hundred forty-nine patients in 

 that institution, thirty-nine per cent or almost four- 

 tenths were blind because this discharge of their eyes 

 in early infancy was neglected. The right solution 

 applied at the right time will stop the discharge and 

 save the eyes. Parents would not neglect to call a 



