Show I i I Ua Daily I Health Service ct i Unusual Eye Disease By DR MORRIS FISHBEIN Editor Journal of the American MedIcal Medical Med Med- ical iral Association and of Hygeia the thc Health Magazine The railway train dispatcher Is re responsible responsible responsible re- re for tor recording on art a train sheet the location ot or trains the or orders orders or- or ders for their movements and other facts having to do with the work of the road As is pointed out by Dr Pr Carey P. P McCord who recently Investigated a peculiar disturbance of the eyes oc occurring occurring oc- oc particularly among such workers the dispatcher may have as many as telephone calls calls' In an hour regarding which he must make decisions and he must enter on the train sheet which Is constantly being moved back and forth and up anc and dO down decisions thus made Obviously this continuous cont motion of ot the thc eyes the head anti the sheet may produce undue strain on the thc mechanism of the eye producing not only the abnormal eye movements known as but also a twitching of or the eyelids due to fatigue fa Ia tigue and defects of or vision Dr McCord examined train dispatchers in d sections see sec of or the country and from 17 different different dif dif- dl- dl ferent r railroads He found lound some In 81 or 67 per cent There is a a. form fonn of or which Is 15 related to disturbances ol or orthe the Internal car ear but that which appears appears ap ap- ap pears In train dispatchers Is not of ot this character It is important to realize that the visual disturbance Is wholly associated d with the pation The train dispatcher ordinarily y begins begins be be- gins this work between the ages of 30 and 35 35 although at pre present nt there is a tendency for younger men to go Into the work The condition tends t to progress to some extent the longer the man remains at the occupation cu i f but does docs not tend to go to the point of total disability as in the case of among miners Another interesting observation made on the train dispatchers was the fact that many of them have some degree desree of hardness of hearing This Is related to the fact that the train dispatchers wear fitting close hearing apparatus over the left car aT through which there is a n continuous of sound waves and a also o due duc to the fact that the work Is car- car ned on amidst noise and lug extra dependence om on bo of sound rather tha k lr |