Show COMMON DEFECTS OF SIGHT Many Refuse to Wear Glasses for the Sake of Their Looks The three defects of eyesight which are most commonly encountered In otherwise healthy persons and which can bo more or less perfectly overcome bj means of glasses are nearsightedness nearsighted-ness farsightedness and astigmatism These arc all important for besides the discomfort and annoyance of imperfect im-perfect sight the Involuntary efforts which the sufferer makes to see better strain the eyes and not only injure them but also give rise through reflex action to headaches and various nervous ner-vous disturbances Nearsighted ness shortsightedness or I myopia as it Is variously called is a condition oC the eyeball usually a lengthening consequence of which the rays of light arc brought to a focus In front of the retina and so the object Is blurred This condition may exist from birth but is usually the result of too much and too oa ly use of the eyes as In the case of students engravers women who do fine sewing and so forth Thus we may say that putting children to work at some of the kindergarten exercises ex-ercises such us perforating and draw Ing la in a double sense a shortsighted procedure Many nearsighted people refuse to wear glasses preferring to deprive themselves of sight for everything beyond be-yond tho nose rathci than to injure their perspnnl appearance as they think This is another shortsighted policy for besides losing much of the joy of existence which comes from seeing the beautiful things about and above us such persons are very liable to suffer from Inflammation of the eyes pioduced bA l Odnsiant strain A less common defect is long or farsightedness far-sightedness or hypermetropia This Is the opposite of myopia the eyeball be ing flattened or shorlcncd and the rays of light consequently not coming to a focus by the time they reach the retina In this case the eye often corrects the defect more or less successfully by making the crystalline lens more convex con-vex but It does this at the expense of the sufferers nervous force and so wo often find tired and congested eyes headaches Indigestion and even serious nervous affections The effort to correct cor-rect the vision is entirely Involuntary and can be overcome only by the fit ting of suitable convex glasses The third and most common defect is astigmatism In this condition there is some Irregularity of the surface of the eye or of iho lens by means of which tim image as it reaches the retina is distorted Untreated astigmatism Is a frequent cause of headache and other nervous disturbances The only relief Is the wearing of glasses at least while reading writing or whenever near ob Jecls are looked at Youths Companion Com-panion |