ish
the oculists could hear as I do the despairing cry of men and women who
were led, until the very last, to hope for a restoration of eyesight,
and then told that in their particular case, all usual remedies failed.
Dr Daval, an eminent French oculist, who lost his eyesight at sixty,
makes an eloquent plea to his colleagues to tell their patients the
truth, and, instead of treating them when they know that loss of
eyesight is inevitable, advise them to study methods used by the blind,
even though they may not need to use the knowledge for months or even
years.

There are a number of eye diseases that may be inherited, and those
having such diseases should be told that they will transmit them to
helpless, innocent children. The social evil is largely responsible for
the infections of which ophthalmia neonatorum is only one result, but
since this disease comes so often from a cause which is not generally
discussed, it is particularly hard to combat. Forty per cent of existing
blindness, and a vast amount of physical degeneracy, is the direct
result of venereal causes.

Certain forms of glaucoma may be inherited, and children whose parents
have had this disease should watch their own eyes very carefully, since,
if taken in time, the progress of this disease, in certain forms, may be
arrested. Persons who see rings around the lights should heed the danger
signal and see an oculist.

Retinitis may also be inherited. I have known of three generations
becoming blind from this cause.

Nearsightedness may also be inherited. I have known this condition of
the eye to be present in four successive generations, and in the last
generation, the young woman became totally blind from detached retina,
due to excessive eyestrain while in school. If you could see my records,
and count the number of cases where blindness is given as the result of
straining nearsighted eyes, you would realize with me that progressive
myopia should be classed as one of the preventable eye diseases, and a
vigorous campaign waged against the marriage of persons so affected.
Nearsighted people should be especially careful to avoid eyestrain, and
should not work by artificial light. Bookkeepers, hotel clerks, and
women who do fine sewing at night should be cautioned against such work,
if they are myopic.

Optic atrophy is an eye disease very baffling to oculists, sapping the
vision slowly but surely, as a rule, but occasionally destroying
eyesight in a v