Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1888 — Near-Sightedness. [ARTICLE]

Near-Sightedness.

Education may create discomforts as tell m secure great advantages. The Gowun nation is threatened with a pe* ctflff trouble of the eyes, as a penalty for reading badly printed books and for unwise methods of study. A careful in> vosttaation of the schools by competent physicians has revealed the unpleasant net that near-sightedness is growing common, and may become universal. In children of five yean and under, it was rarely found; the vision was quite Krfect. In the lower schools, from fifm to twenty per cent, of the scholars were effected; in the higher schools, from forty to fifty per cent. In the theological department of the University, seventy per cent, of the students were troubled; and in the medical department the misfortune was almost universal, only five per cent, not being thus afflicted. The physicians ascribe the difficulty to the practice of holding the books too near the eyes, and the practice is due in a large measure to the poor print <X cheap bosks. .. . _

nstwiDtt is increasing m our own country, and it might be wise to have a similar yr amination of our own schools by skillful physicians, in order to call public attention to the evil.*— Horgau* town Prtn.