598 NEAR SIGHTEDNESS IN SCHOOL CHILDREN. 



creases rapidl}^ the longer the pupils arc in school ; also the analysis enables 

 us to group those examined into a few classes, narael_y : white pupils, colored 

 pupils, artisans, laborers, and pi-ofcssional characters. The examinations, 

 however, have been confined almost exclusivelj' to white children. 



Let it be borne in mind that the white children examined lived in cities, 

 probably a large number of them never lived elsewhere. These children 

 have had a restricted range of vision and owing to the smoke in the atmos- 

 ])here hovering over the cities where they lived, it was impossible for them 

 to see objects at any considerable distance. Th'?se ro?tricti::ns impose con- 

 ditions which superinduce near sight, and owing to the presence of these 

 limitations may be attributed that abnormal state of the tissues of the eyes, 

 rendering them easily susceptible to extraneous influences; in other words, 

 the eyes of such have not the power of resistance. External circumstances 

 conspiring, the usual treatment of the school precipitates the disease. It is 

 suspected, furthermore, that during the transition or formative period food 

 plays no unim])ortant part in enfeebling the action of the visual organs. 

 Eepeatedly experiments have shown that food will not onl}^ change the 

 composition to some extent of the tissues, but will even change very mate- 

 rially the nature of the animal itself. 



The presence of this disease, then, is due largely to a general enfeebleraent 

 of the organs of sight, caused primaril}^ by the want of appropriate exercise 

 and the lack of nutritious food, either or both of which would be sufficient 

 to produce derangement of the eyes. Every organ of the body is made 

 stronger and healthier by appropriate and regular exercise, and the eye is 

 no exception to this rule — -the testimony of the observant everywhere and 

 our daily experience confirm it. The hunter on the far-off plains, the 

 sailor on the ocean, the boy on the farm accustomed to look at distant ob- 

 jects, the herdsman with his droves and flocks, the sharp-shooters picking 

 off the cannoniers, the colored children watching the flights of birds till lost 

 as specks on the sky, all these teach the educability of the eye and that it is 

 subject to law. Non-use then has impaired the sense of sight. Abuse in 

 schools, as will be presently shown, is working sad havoc on the pupils' 

 eyes, but even then it must be viewed as an afterthought. 



Schools and school-houses are eye-traps, owing to the mode of manage- 

 ment in them, yet there are exceptional cases which it would be manifestly 

 unjust to include in the general statement. As it is, year after year natural 

 conditions are violated, till the alarming extent of the disease proclaims in 

 arithmetical arguments the amount of damage done. 



In visiting the schools of St. Louis, Cincinnati and Boston — these are 

 chosen as representative cities — I was surprised at the little use made of the 

 blackboards. It was a matter of astonishment, and I ventured on several 

 occasions to ask for what purposes the boards were used. Some rooms vis- 

 ited in the month of May had pictures on the boards drawn the June before. 

 These pictures were for ornamentation, and were on the boards where the 

 pupils ought to work daily. The pupils recited generallj^ from their book& 



