ing their knowledge within the practical reach
of the masses as for the optician to advertise his wares. School tests
will not have been used to their utmost possibilities until optician
and physician alike take the ethical position that the first
consideration is the patient's welfare, not their own profits. It must
soon be recognized as unethical and unprofessional for an optician who
is also a skilled physician to refer patients to a medical practitioner
ignorant as to optical science.

Whether opticians and physicians are unprofessional or unethical may be
told by reexamination if the _examiner_ is himself competent and
ethical. There is no better judge of their efficiency than the patient
himself, who can tell whether the results promised have been effected.
Whether the work of a country oculist is efficient and ethical can be
learned: (1) by teaching country school children to recognize eye
strain; (2) by comparing his results with those of other physicians. As
soon as one or two states have tested eyes, we shall have an average by
which to compare each class, school, and city with others of their size
under similar conditions. If a particular physician finds half as many
more or only half the average number, the presumption will be that his
results are inaccurate and warrant an investigation. The interested
teacher or parent can render an inestimable service to her local school
and to the children of her state by taking steps to secure state laws
compelling eye tests in all schools.

Finally, it must be remembered by teachers, employers, parents, and all
eye users that eyes are constantly changing; that eyes may need glasses
six months after they are examined and found sound; that glasses change
or develop the eye, so that they may be unnecessary and harmful six
months after they are prescribed, or the eye may require a stronger
glass; that eyeglasses become bent and scratched, so that they worry
and strain the eye; that a periodic examination is essential to the
health of the eye.

In caring for the health of the eye, we should also remember that our
eyes are our chief interpreters of the world that gives us problems,
profits, and pleasures. Out of gratitude, if not out of enlightened
self-interest, we owe our eyes protection, attention, and training, so
that without straining we shall always be able to see truth and
beauty.

CHAPTER VIII

EAR TROUBLE, MALNUTRITION, DEFORMITIES

The presence of a