Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 149 pages of information about Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891.

Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 149 pages of information about Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891.

Dr. Wilson makes the suggestion that he noticed a singular expression in the eyes of certain of the color blind difficult to describe.  “In some it amounted to a startled expression, as if they were alarmed; in others, to an eager, aimless glance, as if seeking to perceive something but unable to find it; and in certain others to an almost vacant stare, as if their eyes were fixed upon objects beyond the limit of vision.  The expression referred to, which is not at all times equally pronounced, never altogether leaves the eyes which it seems to characterize.”

Dr. B. Joy Jeffries, of Boston, has recently written an article on this same topic, but unfortunately I have not his pamphlet at hand to quote his views on this subject.

In this lecture I have shown that the normal eye is far sighted.  The mammalia have this kind of an eye; the Indian the same.  The white man is fast becoming near sighted.  The civilized Indian is also showing the effects of continuous near work; and now the question arises.  What are we to do to prevent further deterioration of vision?  The fault lies at our own doors.  Let us try to correct these now existing evils, so that future generations will, instead of censuring us, thank us for our wisdom.

To aid in a feeble way for the protection of posterity I have formulated ten rules on the preservation of vision: 

(1) Do not allow light to fall upon the face of a sleeping infant.

(2) Do not allow babies to gaze at a bright light.

(3) Do not send children to school before the age of ten.

(4) Do not allow children to keep their eyes too long on a near object, at any one time.

(5) Do not allow them to study much by artificial light.

(6) Do not allow them to use books with small type.

(7) Do not allow them to read in a railway carriage.

(8) Do not allow boys to smoke tobacco, especially cigarettes.

(9) Do not necessarily ascribe headaches to indigestion.  The eyes may be the exciting cause.

(10) Do not allow the itinerant spectacle vender to prescribe glasses.

* * * * *

THE WATER MOLECULE.[1]

[Footnote 1:  Translated from the Pharmaceutische Centralhalle, by A.G.  Vogeler.—­Western Druggist.]

By A. GANSWINDT.

“Water consists of one atom of oxygen and two atoms of hydrogen.”  This proposition will not be disputed in the least by the author; still, it may be profitable to indulge in a few stereo-chemic speculations as to the nature of the water molecule and to draw the inevitable conclusions.

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Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.