the natural lenses, if carefully preserved, are always where they are wanted, and never left at home, or the office, or workshop. Those who are already enslaved to the spectacle-makers, will need no urging to induce them to avail themselves of the discoveries of science and art, to overcome their optical infirmity. However lefective their vision, their eyes will not become tired of reading this essay, which they will peruse, from beginning to end, with eagerness and pleasure, and hail with gratitude their deliverer. A complete history of this remarkable instrument, together with the testimony of many who have employed it, interesting to all who wear glasses, is given in a pamphlet-"Old Eyes made New." (See page 912.) Enough letters commendatory of its utility have been received to fill every page of this book, and in the place above referred to, a few will be given as fair specimens of the many in the hands of the author.

Near-sight, or Myopia.

The foregoing essay gives little but discouragement to a large class

Fig. 111.

of people who are affected with near-sight. Since I first introduced the instrument for restoring farsight, many years ago, I have been called upon by swarms of pretending inventors-some greedy -others addle-pated-having in their hands some device for flattening the eye. Of course it is not logical to say that side pressure upon the eye will impart convexity, while a flat pressure upon the face of the same, will not result in causing less convexity; but there are two objections to the use of instruments for flattening the cornea in cases of near-sight. First: near-sight is in nearly all cases congenital, In other words, those so affected, were born with just such eyes, and consequently it is more diffi

cult to change nature by attempting to flatten such eyes, than it is to restore to convexity those which were originally right, but have become flattened by age or bad manipulations. Second: no instrument can be devised for producing pressure upon the face of the eye, so complete as the balls of the fingers. I do not by any means deny the utility of pressure upon the face of the eye in cases of near-sight; I only call in question the merit of any mechanical instrument for that purpose, while reminding all near-sighted persons that they cannot expect as much nor as speedy benefit from this flattening pressure, as far-sighted people receive from the means I have devised for restoring the convexity of the eye. Every one having a particle of discrimination can see this; but were I nearsighted my fingers should always be employed, in my leisure moments, by placing the ball of the first finger of my right hand on my right eye; the next one on the bridge of the nose to steady the hand; and the third on the left eye-both eyes being closed. With the elbow resting on a table, and the head slightly bent forward to give an easy position, you have in this way, near-sighted reader, the best instrument ever devised for improving your vision, and I would urgently advise you to adopt it and use it perseveringly every day, though you may perceive no change for the better in three months. In time it will affect your sight favorably, and you might as well substitute a habit of thus pressing your eyes, for some other habit which you are conscious injures you-smoking, perhaps. The pressure may be gentle, and continued at each sitting for fifteen or twenty minutes. Illustration figure 111 represents the position the fingers should occupy in the act of imparting this pressure.

Chronic Sore Eyes.

The mechanism of the eye is such, that the presence of inflammation or congestion in them is exceedingly mischievous. To perform its office easily it has to be kept well lubricated. To this end the lining of the socket is not only provided with sebaceous glands, but over each eye, in the upper part of the cavity it occupies, there is a reservoir called the lachrymal gland, which pours out upon the ball a fluid slightly mucous and saline; and, to make the arrangement complete, at the inner corner of each eye there is a canal, the orifice of which is large enough to admit a bristle, and which in health con

eye of any excess of this fail, as well as that which has become tood to be made useft. These canals econect with the nasal duct. To prevent the lachrymal fold or tears fa rasing down over the face of the eye when open there are a number of minute slands along under the edges of the lids which secrete an oily sub. stance. This with the imperceptible pressure of the edges of the Ids upon the eyes, holds back the watery secretions, which pass down around the inner edges as if eave-troughs confined them) to the tear ducts before described. The oil glands at the edges of the lids also prevent the latter from becoming a-glued or stuck together during sleep. Without them it would be difficult to get the eyes open in the morning. Even the eyelashes at their roots have the oily secretions common to all hair, which lubricate them, and prevent them from becoming adhesive when moistened with the watery secretions of the lachrymal glands. In addition to all this ingenious and wonderful mechanism, the veins of the eyes in health are too

Fiz. 112.

OPHTHALMY.

small to admit the red corpuscles of the blood, and it is by this arrangement that the whites of the eyes in health preserve their clearness, and the lenses are enriched by colorless blood, for otherwise the vision would be obstructed by specks, spots, patches, etc., even in health.

With the foregoing brief description of some of the mechanical arrangements of the eyes, it may be readily seen how inflammation or any undue pressure of blood upon the organs of vision and their immediate surroundings, will interfere with the proper performance of their functions. When inflamed, red, feverish corpuscles enter the veins; they redden the sclerotic or white of the eye; they distend the veins of the eyelids and linings of the sockets; they vitiate the secretions of the lachrymal glands, or reservoirs over the eyes, making them scalding in their properties; they dry up or make gluey the oily secretions of the glands along the adges of the eyelids, and also those which keep the eyelashes from becoming matted or stuck together. When all these derangements

take place a person has what are commonly called sore eyes, and technically, ophthalmy. When the difficulty survives the immediate cause which precipitated it, whether that immediate cause be cold or catarrh, or something getting into the eye, or local infection, or contusion, or, if it comes on gradually without any known immediate cause, it may be called chronic sore eyes, or chronic ophthalmy.

Sore eyes induced by a cold may simply present an inflamed and swollen appearance, with a profusion of water, and sensitiveness to light; induced by catarrh, similar symptoms with an exudation of unwholesome mucus; induced by something entering the eye, soreness, and sometimes great pain attended with an excessive flow of the lachrymal fluid; induced by contusion, similar symptoms to those just described; but when induced by infection such as leucorrhoeal or gonorrhoeal or syphilitic matter,or perpetuated by scrofulo us or syphilitic impurities in the blood, the discharges are purulent, with all the foregoing symptoms combined; and the poisonous matter which is exuded, if brought in contact with the lids of healthy eyes, proves contagious. It is believed by some people that simply looking into such eyes will affect healthy ones; but I am confident that all such supposed cases came some way in contact with at least a particle of the diseased virus. In a family, for instance, where chronic sore eyes attack one of the children, and then the difficulty spreads to several others; it will probably be found on close investigation that they have played with each others' toys, or wiped on the same towel, in either of which ways a little grain of the diseased matter may have been communicated to the eyes of the healthy child. Women having bad leucorrhoea, and men affected with gonorrhoea; or others of either sex having syphilitic ulcers or sores, should always be extremely cautious not to touch the fingers to the eyes after they have been in contact with the affected parts, and should carefully avoid wiping the face with the same towel used for wiping the hands.

In the treatment of chronic sore eyes the blood must receive the main attention. No case will become chronic unless the blood was previously impure, or became so by the infectious matter with which the eyes were inoculated. I have cured many cases without any local treatment whatever; but when the latter is resorted to, it should be of a mild healing nature, and always accompanied with thorough medication for the blood. Those having an affection of this

kind, wishing to consult the author, should answer the questions in the closing Chapter of Part II.

Amaurosis.

This consists of a complete loss of sight, without any perceptible change in the appearance of the eye. It most commonly results from paralysis of the optic nerve. This paralysis may proceed from a want of nervous vitality in the system; or from the location about the optic nerve of blood-impurities which intercept the nervous circulation therein. When it proceeds from nervous derangements, electricity or animal magnetism carefully applied to the eyes, together with tonic remedies, will restore all curable cases; but when scrofulous or syphilitic blood sends its impurities to the optic nerve so as to interfere with the performance of its functions, the treatment must be mainly directed to the eradication of them. I have cured cases of this kind without any local treatment whatever. The approach of amaurosis is usually foreshadowed by the appearance of specks, streaks, sparks of fire, clouds, and mists before the sight, with more or less dullness of vision, and in some cases acute pain in the ball of the eye, and in others in the optic nerve, running back until lost in an undefinable ache. When these symptoms make their appearance, no time should be lost to arrest the progress of the disease, for incipient amaurosis may be said to already exist. Persons having these symptoms are apt to resort to spectacles of various kinds, and to advertised eye-washes, instead of presenting their cases to a skillful physician. All who do this waste valuable time, and they are also liable to injure themselves by experiments.

Cross-Eyes.

An affection of this kind is technically called strabismus, and by many "squint." People thus affected not only look very queerly, but it is generally difficult for an observer to tell exactly what partioular object they are looking at. Cross-eyed schoolmasters are always a great bother to the boys, who naturally perpetrate their mischief when the eyes of the teacher are apparently not on thom; but when the tutor has optics like any of those given in the annexed illustration, and especially if like c, the boys are entirely adrift, and find it unsafe to look off their books, or throw paper bullets at their fellow-students. There can be no doubt that all con