Eyesight, and how to care for it / edited by George Black.

Date:
[1888]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Eyesight, and how to care for it / edited by George Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    79/168 (page 75)
    In very young people, in whom the lens is soft and easily acted upon, and who usually occupy themselves less constantly in close work, a very considerable de- gree of hypermetropia may pass unnoticed; but sooner or later, according to the degree of the defect, the vigor of the individual, and the nature of his occupation, the time must come when the strain will manifest itself by discomfort, distress, or complete disability for anything but manual labor. At first there is merely a sense of fatigue on prolonged use of the eyes, with, perhaps, a slight pain or heavy feeling in the brow. Then, after reading for a time, particularly at night, the print, which at first may have been perfectly sharp and clear, becomes blurred and misty, or even fades away entirely; by closing the eyes for a little while, and, perhaps, rub- bing or bathing them, it is possible to resume the strain, but the same experience is repeated. Persons who persist in struggling on in this way have, for some time after the work is laid aside, a feeling of fatigue and discomfort in the eyes, accompanied by headache, and not unfrequently dizziness, irritability, and mental confusion. Finally, in many cases, the tension of the accommodative power required for dis- tant vision is felt, and these symptoms, to a greater or less extent, become continuous, even when no attempt is made to use the eyes for near work. The hopeless condition of such persons, before Bonders