DEFECTIVE SIGHT

Hokitika Guardian, 5 February 1929, Page 7

DEFECTIVE SIGHT

SYDNEY’S RECURD. AN OPT I GIANS’ PA RAD ISE. SYDNEY, January 24. Sydney lias been termed an optician’s paradise for the season that it l: computed that at least one fifth of tin population wears glasses. It would seem that the time is coming when a person without glasses will be regardei as a curio or a joke. Thirty years a,go, it lias been pointed out, the bo-spectacl-ed person was a rarity. To wear glasses then was a stigma of weakness. People postponed a visit to an ey< s|H.'cialist until they were nearly blind, from vanity’s sake. So it is probabh quite reasonable to deduct from tliai that the people's sight is really no worse than it used to be, but the pco pie themselves have acquired more sense and realise that'the gift of sight is one worth preserving. An optician the other day estimated that practically everyone over the age of 50 used glasses for reading. The long sight that comes with .age is inevitable. 'Plic savage gets it equally with the civilised person. But to the savage it is not a handicap—-ho docs not road or do fine work close under the eyes, Civilisation not only brings long sight ill middle age, but short sight at all ages— cases where the victim’s world ends a yard from Ids nose. It has also brought astigmatism and weak sight generally. Specialists blame the great deal of indoor work done in the offices of Sydney, too much reading (Sydney is also a paradise for booksellers and libraries), and the conditions created by the immense amount of traffic in the narrow streets occasioning great nervous strain. Sydney is running to skyscrapers these days. Natural light is vanishing from many of the offices, and in many ox the big buildings artificial lights are necessary all through the day, summer and winter. And the lighting is badly arranged, according to experts, being suspended from the ceilings in glaring globes instead of cyesparing concealed floodlights. Sydney it would seem lias a great deal to learn in this direction, and the lessons should certainly be taken in the interests of those who are compelled to work all the days oi their lives in artificial light. Out in the streets, in the natural light, it is still worse for the eyes; the strained vigilance necessary in threading traffic wearies the eye muscles with jerky glances from side- to side. Recently a census in Ludgatc Hill, London, showed that 50 per cent, of tne people noted wore glasses. A similar test was made in Pitt Street, Sydney, the other day, and 20 per cent, of thocs people who passed a given point within a pertain time wore glasses. Glassed men were more numerous than women, and among the men the horn-rimmed type of spectacles was by far the most popular. Another tribute to- the observation powers ’of those who say that Sydney is fast becoming Americanised.