PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1390, 25 March 1912, Page 3

PREVENTION OF BLINDNESS.

■ CAKE OF THE EYES. It is maintained in a bulletin recently issued by the American Association for the Conservation of Vision, that a large proportion cf the blindness existing at tho present time could havo been easily pre-* vDiiteil. Tho bulletin goes on to say that there is also a large amount of defective vision, tho American people being conspicuous for poor eyesight and for the high proportion of the population who arc slaves to eyeglasses and spectacles. The snmo measures, says the Association, will tend toward both the prevention of blindness and the prevention of poor eyesight, which it calls conservation of vision. Ue;ieral ignorance regarding the care and proper use of tho eyes is said to be responsible for most of the harm. While people know considerable about caring for their other faculties, the person who knows much about his eyes is unusual. This ignorance is particularly disastrous at the present time, on account of the evergrowing demands through the increase of I'linted matter and the necessity for close eye-work. Efforts to better the situation were started first by workers for the Mind, and then spread rapidly, the work being taken up b.v the Russell Sage Foundation. Many prominent people are identified with the work, officers of the American Association for the Conservation of Vision comprising tho following .names:—President William H. Taft, Theodore ltoosevelt, .Icseph 11. Choate, Louisa Lea Rchuvler, Helen Keller, .lana Addams, Winifred Holt, Dr. Abraham Jacobi, Ella I'lngg Young, David Starr Jordan, 1 , . Park Lewis, Douglas (J. M'.Murtrie, and T. Commcrford Martin. The work consists largely of public education and the encouragement of legislation for the* protection of eyesight. At a recent meeting in Xew York, the secretary, Douglas C. M'Murtrie, outlined tho association's work as follows-.—"One of tho principal efforts will be to eliiniiinto the possibility of babies being born blind. There arc ten thousand persons in the United .States blind from this cause alone, yet tho danger of such blindness can bo entirely prevented b.v the simple operation of putting certain drops in the eyes of the baby at birth. Fortnnatelv. the practice is spreading, and it should lx> still further encouraged. M,ncU harm results from industrial eye accidents, and these can be prevented by various safety devices. Improper illumination is responsible for much harm, brilliant light sources causing eye strain and permanent injury. All lights of any character should be properly shaded, so that tho illumination is diffused. r n places where the eyes are used to i>ny great extent, as in schools and factories, part/eiilnr attention should bo paid to the condition under which eye-work is done. ]n many schools it has been found that the proportion of pupils with defective t'j-isijsM : noreas-es n< the children advance- in the grades. This is, of eour-e, a matter of grave importance. Good eyesight is vilal to the he-it elhcieiiey in any line, and it is poor policy to permit it (0 bi> injiuvd .inneces-arily. "Tho eye is one of the import nut organs (if the body, as mo-t of our activity i< dopi-ndoiit upon it. When people rom'e t> realise this, and begin to give :iilc-ntinn to tlm ciir.! of llu>ir eyes, condition- will rapidly improve." For Childrcn'a Hacking Couch at Night, . Woods' Qroa,t Peppermint Quid Iβ, 3d,*