280 report— 1884. 



were devised as a minimum test, 1 but as a maximum test they are visible 

 (theoretically) at a distance of 57 feet, and owing to this great range are 

 not well adapted for testing the sight of person^ living in towns, where 

 large well-lighted rooms, suitable for making the examinations, are 

 difficult to find. Instead, therefore, of using the whole of the returns 

 sent in, one thousand observations, which are known to have been taken 

 under the proper conditions of space and illumination, are made use of, 

 with the following results : — 



Observations on the Eyesight made with the Army Test-dots on 

 1,000 Males of the Ages from 15 to 65 Years. 



Theoretical distance at which the dots ar e visible 



Mean or most frequent distance observed .... 



Average distance of total number ., .... 



., ' „ at ages between 1 5 and 40 years observed 



,, ,, !> » 40 ,, b5 ,, ,, . 



,, „ of total country population observed 



„ .. town „ „ . . 



The agreement between the calculated and the mean observed distance 

 shows that the examinations were made under the proper conditions 

 of space and light. The average shows a deficiency of eyesight, which, 

 when distributed over the whole number of persons examined, reduces 

 the distance to 502 feet, or 7o feet (12/ per cent.) below the normal 

 standard. The deficiency of sight below the age of 40 years is 6 7 feet 

 (ll - 7 per cent.), and above that age 108 feet (18 - 8 per cent.), showing 

 that it is largely due to the natural degeneracy of the sight from 

 advancing age. The average sight of the country population is a little 

 better than that of towns, but this may bo attributable in some measure 

 to the more favourable conditions under which the examinations were 

 made ; the difference is about 2 feet in favour of country folks. It is 

 difficult to draw the line between good and imperfect eyesight, but 

 considerable practice with the Army test-dots shows that a person who 

 can distinguish them at a distance of 30 feet (or half their theoretical 

 distance) has good sight ; and all below it may be said to have imperfect 

 sight. Up to 30 feet 10 - 8 per cent, of the persons examined failed to 

 distinguish the test-dots, and at 15 feet, the distance fixed by the Army 

 regulations for the exclusion of recruits for imperfect eyesight, barely 

 1 per cent, failed to distinguish the test-dots. The failures up to 35 feet 

 were at the rate of 19"3 per cent., and up to 40 feet 26"5 per cen 



To ascertain the influence of school-life on the eyesight of boys, 

 about 3,000 observations, made with Snellen's types, No. 1 and 

 No. 10, by the Rev. T. A. Preston, at Marlborough College, 2 have been 

 examined with the following results. The statistics are valuable as 



o 



1 Each test-dot is one-fifth of an inch square, and corresponds at a distance of 

 15 feet with the bull's-eye of a target two feet square at GOO yards distance. A recruit 

 who cannot clearly distinguish the dots at a distance of ] 5 feet is deemed unfit for 

 military service. 



- These observations were made with the book of tests for The Detection of 

 Colour Blindness and Imperfect Eyesight, prepared by Mr, C. Roberts for the Com- 

 mittee, and the}' reflect the greatest credit on the skill and perseverance of Mr. 

 Preston. Not only are the observations of great value to science in the aggregate, 

 but each boy was benefited by being informed of the condition of his eyesight. 

 The first edition of the book of tests having been sold out, a second edition, with 

 some important alterations which practice has shown to be necessary or desirable, 

 has been issued by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill, of New Burlington Street, W. 



