Excerpt from Conserving Vision: An Essay on the Prevalence of Poor Eyesight and the Relations of Eyestrain, Illumination, Structural Defects of the Eye, Accidents, and Eye Diseases, to the Conservation of Vision
Conserving Vision The eye is one of the most useful and indispensable organs of the body. Through the function of vision practically all knowledge is acquired and by aid of the eye almost all work and activity is directed.
Yet the eye has been the victim of serious abuse and neglect, and the mistreatment is reflected in present conditions, which are little realized and have been given but slight attention. In the United States there are estimated to be 100, 000 persons totally or practically blind. And most of this blindness is preventable. But there is another situation of far more gravity.
At least half of the educated class in the United States are afflicted with serious defects of vision. The truth of this statement is easily seen by thinking of the number of people who are absolutely dependent upon spectacles or eyeglasses. Even with these artificial aids there are thousands of people who are chronic victims of eye-strain. In addition to the physical discomfort such people suffer, the loss in efficiency is tremendous. They are only able to use their eyes for part of the day and they are absolutely prevented from doing any continuous work. In addition it is a well known fact that eye trouble is the cause of many other physical ills. Many chronic maladies, such as headache, indigestion and nervousness, are direct resultants of eye-strain.
The economic loss engendered by eye-strain is thus seen to be of vast importance. In the present age, with the great increase of printed matter and the consequent increase in close eye-work, the importance to the people of good eyes, capable of doing efficient work, is tremendously enhanced. But instead of being a people with good eyesight, the contrary is conspicuously the case.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
