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Show Future Eyes Will Be Better Adapted for Civilized Living, Claim The human eye as we know it today is the result of a period of evolution covering many hundreds of thousands of years, according to Dr. Laurence P. Folsom of South Royalton, Vermont, President of the New England Council of Optometry' Op-tometry' ts. Mankind has lived on earth for at least one hundred thousand years, states Dr. Folsom. Up to fifty 'thousand years ago man was still largely uncivilized and only in the past four or five thousand years has he used written symbols to any extent. ex-tent. In fact, only in the past half century have printed matter and ! artificial lighting been In widespread wide-spread use. For at least ninety-nine percent of the time man has lived on earth he has lived an outdoor existence His eyes are adapted for outdoor seeing at long distance by daylight, under the shade of trees, and with the forest carpet" as a floor. His only use for near seeing was to tie a few skins together, to peel a banana ba-nana or to sharpen a piece of stone. The difficulty facing most persons today is that of making an outdoor eye do inside work at nearer distances dis-tances and under poorer illumination. illumina-tion. Most eyes give trouble sooner or later under modern living conditions con-ditions and must have Optometric service. Herein lies the fallacy of the common form of school eyesight survey. Johnny may have the keen sight of an eagle and be able to read all the letters of the chart attached to the wall twenty feet away and yet be hopelessly unable to cope with the strain of study at a neai distance. He takes a dislike to school and may learn to cheat, he may play truant, and there you have a criminal in the bud. Evolution is a very slow process but just as surely as the human eye has developed to its present highly perfected state during ths nast thousands of years so may we be sure that continued development will bring about eyes better adapted to the work required' of them. |