bsorb light strongly, instead of
reflecting it. Reds, greens and browns reflect only ten to fifteen per
cent of the light which falls on them; while cream-color or light
yellowish tints reflect over one-half the light.

As a result of the ophthalmic work of the medical inspection departments
of many of our public schools throughout the country, much is being done
to help children who are partially blind, or suffering from some visual
defect which may lead to blindness if they continue in school under
ordinary conditions. Every large city should have one or more of these
conservation classes, and the demand for them will increase when the
public realizes their importance in saving the sight of school children.
Dr De Schuynitz, an eminent oculist of Philadelphia, in an address on
conservation of vision, asked these questions: "Shall children be
allowed to trifle with their most precious possession? Shall our homes
be permitted to disregard the rules of visual hygiene? Shall children,
and those children of the larger growth--men and women--remain on the
side lines because they can not see well enough to play the great game
of stirring life, with its joy of untrammeled effort? Shall they not
have a game which they _can_ play? Shall we of these better walks of
life pursue our way in smug contentment, and permit the preventable
causes of blindness to continue their black business, and ever add to
the roll of their victims?" The leading oculists of the country
recommend sight-saving classes, and many of them give their time and
money to the service of these handicapped children, establishing clinics
for their care and treatment. In Los Angeles the Parent-Teacher
Association has a wonderful clinic, and Dr Ross A. Harris and his
assistants have saved the eyes of hundreds of children who would
otherwise have become public charges. But here again it is necessary to
educate the public. An old schoolmaster, rich in the wisdom of ripe
experience, has said, "More children's eyes are injured in the home than
in the school," and his words receive daily verification. But in schools
where medical inspection is given, and where a visiting nurse is in
attendance, untold good is being accomplished, and children who should
wear glasses, and attend conservation classes are promptly sent to the
oculist, and assigned a place in school.

The commonest visual defects are, first, inflammation of the cornea, or
imperfections of the lens--the cornea