Color blindness : remarks / by B. Joy Jeffries at the twenty-ninth annual meeting of the board of the supervising inspectors of steam vessels.

  • Jeffries, B. Joy, 1853-
Date:
[1881]
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Credit: Color blindness : remarks / by B. Joy Jeffries at the twenty-ninth annual meeting of the board of the supervising inspectors of steam vessels. 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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    the Annual Eeport of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine- Hospital Service.] [Some two hours were then spent by the various members of the board in questioning Dr. Jeffries and Professor Carmalt, in order to satisfy their doubts, or have misunderstandings cleared up, by personal explanations by these gentlemen of the various tests, and especially the apparent contradictory evidence of defect as shown by the worsteds a;nd the signal-lamps as they had been used. The board finaLy agreed with these gentlemen.] Dr. Jeffries resumed: Our explanations have shown the great danger which may arise from these examinations being taken out of the hands of the surgeons, and they have equally shown how readily this mistake was made 5 a mistake most apt to be made at first by almost all officials « who have to frame laws and instructions as to these tests, which are ^o incomprehensible till seen and understood. A desire to see justice done between the community and the pilot alone actuates the criticisms made. It is with great pleasure that I testify to how far ahead of our mother country, England, this board is in this matter. There the tests of masters and mates for visual power and color-blindness have been left to the examiners in seamanship, of course non-medical men, with result, reported to Parhament, that is simply ridiculous. [Note.—Reference should be here made to the speech of Hon. B. W. Harris, of Mass., in the U. S. House of Eepresentatives, Feb. 18,1881, in Congressional Record. ] On the other hand, across the channel in Holland, very strict rules are carefully applied by competent medical men. I quote from my Manual, p. 262, as follows: ^'Regulations were also proposed to the government by Professor Donders in reference to the navy and mer- chant marine; and they are now accepted and enforced, as seen from an order in the same official paper, Nederlandische Staats-Oourant, of March 3, 1879. ''The Minister of the Department of Industry, Commerce, and the ^^avy, referring to article 2 of the royal decree of Feb. 17,1879, (Staats- blad, No. 37) in regard to the carrying out directions for the examina- tion for a warrant as mate in the merchant marine, as directed by royal order of May 5, 1877, (Staatsblad, l^o. 98) has decided to re- quire— 1st. In the test for visual acuteness and color-sensation ordered in the article, the following: a. ]Srormalvision,withoutcorrecting-glasses, with one eye, andatleast one-half of normal vision with the other eye. Both eyes must be without manifest hypermetropia of a degree above D 1.00, and in one eye at least normal vision. c. Yisual field not limited in either eye. d. Eyes and eyehds externally healthy without habitual congestion or imitation. e. Color perception perfect for transmitted light in one eye, and at least one-half in the other, according to Donders' method. 2d. The report and declaration of the expert, as required in the above, shall be considered valid for one month only from the time the test is (Signed.) TAK YON POORTYLIET. GnAVENHAaE, Feb, 27, 1879.