Is the human eye changing its form under the influence of modern education? / Edward G. Loring.

  • Loring, Edward G. (Edward Greeley), 1837-1888
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Is the human eye changing its form under the influence of modern education? / Edward G. Loring. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    i remote from their labor. When tlie ai)])i-eiiticeship * wi completed, and they came to close application of the eyes near work, the dangerous period for the development of nea sightedness was over. This is precisely the reverse of what takes place with tL m young student whose hardest tasks often come just at a tim jli when he is least able to bear them. AVhole books might I Oi written upon this theme, but I innst leave it with this meagj; t allusion. But, before doing so, I should like to say, for tV sake of those who are fond of autliority and statistics, th; , Bonders declares that watchmakers who spend their entire ds with the glass at their eye do not develope myopia or an tendency thereto. . Emmert conti-adicted this assei-tion, am declared that his statistics showed that the jDcrcentage f y. myopic children in the watchmaking schools in Switzerlaii was as great as in the ordinary schools. Cohu objected li this, and showed by his statistics that, among practising watcl makers, there were only 10 per cent, near-sighted, so also wit gold and silver smiths, and jewelers, while in the last years (4 school life he found 63 per cent, myopic. Gartner found 81 pt« cent, of the theological students that he examined near-sighted The reason why Emmert found a larger percentage in tit watchmaking scliools than had other examiners among practt sing watchmakers is evidently, as Cohn remarks, because li: examinations were upon young children who were made to us; their eyes at a tender lage for long periods of- time upon sma. objects. So that Emmert's statistics are a complete corrobc ration of the fact that it is the age at which it is made, rathei than the application itself, that produces the near-sightednesp Moreover, it cannot be doubted that cerebral activity wlie. long continued, combined with close application, affects tb. eyes u a greater degree than close application without suci activity. Mind acts on matter here to as great a degree, if nO' greater, than in other parts of the body. * And now comes a Saturday Reviewer, who says that since the time 0 apprenticeship has been lessened, and more -time devoted to schooling, tb' manual skill and dexterity of the British artisan is decreasing. Labor-savinfi machines, however, have, no doubt, something to do with this.
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