William Horatio Bates

“ The child is now so much improved that ordinarily her eyes are normal, but when anything disturbs her the vibration returns. This always happens, she tells me, when the teacher asks her a question, and at the same time she loses her memory. But the teacher allows her to cover her eyes to rest them, and in a few minutes the vibration ceases and her memory improves. Before she came to the clinic she often became hysterical and was obliged to leave the classroom. Now she is never troubled in this way.
One of the most puzzling cases I ever had was sent by the school nurse for glasses. ”

“ Does working by artificial light affect the eyes? I work all day by electric light—am a bookkeeper, and suffer a great deal from my eyes. I have been fitted with glasses, but cannot wear them. I feel that my eyes, instead of getting better from wearing them, get weaker. ”

“ The children were directed to read the smallest letters they could see from their seats at least once every day, with both eyes together and with each eye separately, the other being covered with the palm of the hand in such a way as to avoid pressure of the eyeball. Those whose vision was defective were encouraged to read it more frequently, and in fact needed no encouragement to do so after they found that the practice helped them to see the blackboard, and stopped the headaches, or other discomfort, previously resulting from the use of their eyes. ”

“ Better Eyesight, August 1921 A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF IMPERFECT SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES
CHILDREN MAY IMPROVE THEIR SIGHT BY CONSCIOUSLY DOING THE WRONG THING Children often make a great effort to see the blackboard and other distant objects in school. It helps them to overcome this habit to have them demonstrate just what the strain to see does. ”

“ Bates' book, and after that, though he watched her closely, he did not say anything more about her eyes. "I made up my mind to pass without the aid of glasses," she said, "and put one over on the principal, and you bet I never lost sight of my precious swinging period. The book has become a family treasure," she continued. "When one of us has a pain in head or eyes, out it comes. It is a natural thing to see mother palming after her work is done. She enjoys her evenings with us now, because palming rests her and she does not get so sleepy." ”

“ Nature requires rest for the eyes, but your little girl, instead of closing her eyes when they are tired, strains to keep them open." The mother promised to do all she could, and as she was leaving she said: "God sent me here. I will send my two boys to be rid of their glasses also."
The next clinic day Agnes brought with her her brother Peter, who was wearing glasses for astigmatism and headaches. He was very attentive while I treated Agnes, who told me that she had not been having her usual headaches. Peter's vision I found to be 15/40, right eye, and 15/15, left eye. ”

“ Q.—Do you get as much benefit from gazing at the sun through a window as you would outdoors? I have read that it did no good to take a sunbath through glass.—E. C. H. A.—Yes. The strength of the sunlight is not appreciably modified by the glass. ”

“ He was very happy when told that he did not need glasses any more, and that I could cure him during vacation. As children are cured very quickly when one helps the other at home, I expect that Agnes and Peter will soon be reading 20/10, which is twice what the normal eye is expected to do.
Another recent patient was Mary, a colored girl, twelve years old. She complained of such violent headaches that she could no longer attend school and stayed in bed most of the time. The school nurse had advised glasses, and she had come to get them. ”

“ As my roommates were out visiting we were able to work for forty-five minutes in peace, and each became more anxious to beat the other, for with their glasses off they could read through the seventy line. While I taught them how to palm, Margaret was practicing at swinging the figure 1 and working at the first letter in the following line, but nothing seemed to give her as much rest and benefit as palming. ”

“ Superintendent Public Schools of North Bergen, N. J. "Better Eyesight" takes great pleasure in presenting to its readers this remarkable report of the results attained in the schools of North Bergen by the use of the Snellen test card. It is an extract from the fourteenth annual report of Superintendent Husted. Early in October, 1919, under the direction of our school nurse, Miss Marion McNamara, a Snellen test of the eyes of all our pupils was made. A novel health experiment was begun, a campaign for "Better Eyesight. ”