a further
deterioration of vision? Unfortunately, the physician of our country
is not, as I am told, like the Japanese physician. Our medical men are
called to attend people who are ill and to try to get them well--the
Japanese physician is paid only to keep his patients in health.

The first effort parents should make is to see that their children
have plenty of outdoor exercise. Good, warm clothing in winter, and
light texture cloth in summer. A great difference of opinion exists as
to the age at which a child should begin its studies. I feel sure that
the boy who commences his studies at ten will far outrun the one who
commences study at six. Every child should commence his lessons in the
best kindergarten, the nursery. Let object lessons be his primer--let
him be taught by word of mouth--then, when his brain is what it should
be for a boy of ten, his eyes will be the better able to bear the
fatigue of the burdens which will be forced upon him. Listen to what
Milton has left on record as a warning to those young boys or girls
who insist upon reading or studying at night with bad illumination.

"My father destined me, from a child, for the pursuits of polite
learning, which I prosecuted with such eagerness that, after I was
twelve years old, I rarely retired to bed, from my lucubrations, till
midnight. This was the first thing which proved pernicious to my eyes,
to the natural weakness of which were added frequent headaches."

Milton went blind when comparatively a young man, and it was always to
him a great grief. Galileo, the great astronomer, also went blind by
overwork. It was written of him, "The noblest eye which ever nature
made is darkened--an eye so privileged, and gifted with such rare
powers, that it may truly be said to have seen more than the eyes of
all that are gone, and to have opened the eyes of all that are to
come."

When the defect of far sightedness or near sightedness exists, we have
but one recourse--_spectacles_.

Some time ago I published, in the _Medical and Surgical Reporter_ an
article on the history of spectacles. The widespread interest which
this paper created has stimulated me to continue the research, and
since this article appeared I have been able to gather other
additional historical data to what has been described as an invention
for "poor old men when their sight grows weak."

The late Wendell Phillips, in his lecture on the "Lost Arts," speaks
of the ancients having magnif