Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

How Save You Can Your Simple Precautions Which Will Prevent Blindness and Other Serious Eye Troubles ® « 1. • 1 .. 1 ... ..11 j r«Aniinn f 1 ir nnnaavo in oni'dpmin form At Children’s By Dr. LEONARD K. HIRSHBERG A.B., M.A., M.D., (Johns Hopkins) S TALKING the civilized lands of the earth to-c'ay are a million needlessly blind women and men. who cannot see the beauty of thiR world as you Ree it; end it is the Ignorance of fathers and mothers and the incompetence of nurses and doctors that is to blame for most of this unnecessary suffering. It Is a rare thing for a human being to be born with defective vision, but it is almost as rare for any one to pass through childhood without suffering some damage to the eyes. Nevertheless, it is possible, by proper pre cautions to guard a growing child’s eyes against all of the greater injuries of common occurrence, and most of the lesser ones. A child's eyes should receive attention the very minute it is born. This is because there is always a chance that they may harbor a few germs of the terrible disease known as ophthalmia neonatorum. Although these germs often make a lot of trouble for adults, they eeldom invade their eyes, but in new-born babies the organs of vision are their favorite abiding place. , in two days, or maybe three days, the baby's eyes grow red and begin to discharge a creamy pus. The upper lids swell and fall over the lower ones. Hy and by the infection extends to the eyeball and the child’s sight is permanently impaired, if not entirely destroyed. A generation ago nearly half of the blind people in the world had lost their sight in this way In infancy. To-day It is possible to cure ophthalmia neonatorum before it has fairly set in. The method is very simple, and consists solely of dropping two drops of a 2 per cent solution of silver nitrate into each of the new-born child's eyes. The silver nitrate is a poweriu! antiseptic, and it kills the germs instantly. In itself it is utterly harmless to i#: eye. This should be done immediately after the child Is born. The child's eyes need constant attention for several W'eeka after birth, hut the services of a physician are not necessary. Perfect cleanliness Is the end to be attained, and frequent washing is the means to that end. Instead of plain water, it. is best to use a solution made by dropping a teaspoonful of boracic acid (not common kitchen borax) into a cupful of water that has been boiled and then permitted to cool till lukewarm. Before washing your baby’s eyes, cleanse your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water, and after that dip them in a basin containing a gill or so of peroxide of hydrogen in half a pint of water. Then tear off a bit of sterilized absorbent cotton, dip it into the boracic acid solution and tenderly mop the baby’s eyelids. Never touch a child’s eyes with a rag, and, if possible, use absorbent cotton instead of a towel. When the child’s eyes are actually inflamed it is always best to send for a doctor at once, for all diseases of the eye, no matter how slight they may seem, are dangerous. In early infancy an infant’s eyes are exposed to the twin dangers of neglect and coddling. See to it that neither direct sunlight nor strong artificial light shines into your baby’s face, aw r ake or asleep, but do not make the mistake of shading it too much. The eyes of all of us, in later life, must take their share of heavy acci dental strains, and so they must be trained to bear the burden. As the Child begins to run about and explore the world the strain upon its eyes begins to grow serious. If it is of an alert, inquiring mind, it will tackle the alphabet very early and try to master the art of reading. This spirit always pleases parents vastly, but it is well to discourage it. A child under six can derive nothing but harm from poring over hooks, even when the type Why We Have SO FEW DOMESTIC ANIMALS I T seems strange that with more than 800,000 different species of animals to select from, man has been able to tamo and domesticate eo few'. All told, the number of animals which have been brought into subjection and made to minister to man’s needs does not exceed twenty- six; and to make up this number we have to Include animals like the elephant, llama, yak, camel and reindeer, which have been only par tially domesticated. One reason why we have so few domestic ani mals, W. P. P.vcraft, the English student, thinks, is because when primitive man began the work of domestication he had only limited facilities for keeping stock. Another is that only a lim ited number of animals thrive in captivity, and come will not breed in confinement. No one, too, has ever succeeded in subjecting the rhinoceros, even in zoological gardens, where other creatures no less formidable, like sea lions, bears, lions and tigers, have been more or less tamed. Other species which d ! play more or less docility in captivity either breed but slowly or not at all, or they exhibit a peculiar fixedness of type—a conservativeness which the skill of the breeder lias tried in vain to overcome. The ass, goose and turkey afford good instances of this “conservativeness." From time to time attempts have been made to enlarge our stock of domesticated animals with but little success. Some years ago, for example, an experiment was made to test the possibility of breeding that magnificent antelope, the eland, in capitivty, so as to increase our food supply. It was hoped that its flesh would afford us a welcome change from beef and mut ton, or, at any rate, that it would be as easily procurable das venison. But, so far, nothing has come of these efforts, although on account of its size and inoffensive character the eland is well adapted for domestication. In like manner, all efforts at taming the zebra as an addition to our beasts of burden have proved unavailing. The camel and the two- humped (or Bactrian) camel have been domesti cated for thousands of years—indeed, as wild animals they have long since been extinct—yet there are no distinct breeds of these animals is large and the pictures are alluring Neither should it be permitted to strain its eyes by attempting to write, or by engaging in any game or handicraft em ploying small objeots. I sometimes believe that the kinder gartens are the greatest enemies of Young America. They drag into the stuffy classroom youngsters who should be exercising their lungs and legs in the parks, and they put into practice theories of education that are to the last degree absurd and pernicious. Con demned to serve as a subject for this sort of pedagogical vivisection, it is no wonder that many a child grows rest less or sluggish. Nine times out of ten a physical examination of the backward or unruly child will reveal enlarged ton sils, massive adenoids, bad hearing or faulty vision. If your child is irritable,.has headaches, squints his eyes when his attention is attracted, holds his book close to his face or seems otherwise uncomfortable at his studies, take him to an opthalmologiat at once. The oculist who offers to examine eyes free should be ovoided. The proper examination of a child’s eyes re quires professional skill of a high order, and this is only to be found among men of long training. If you live in a small town it is best to seek advice in the nearest large city. Your family physician will give you a letter to the right man* and if you are wise you will remember that the latter’s comparatively high fee will be money well invested. It stands to reason that a competent specialist must be well paid for his labors. His educa tion was very expensive and it has required long years of good work with little pay to prove his capacity. If this ophthalmologist prescribes glasses for your child, have them made at once and see to it that your child wears them as he directs. Most children object to glasses, and parental vanity often supports them in their protests. Taken in time, there are few defects of vision that cannot be permanently corrected, and there is often good reason to hope that if the glasses are worn faithfully, It will be possible at times to lay them aside. The curriculum of the average public school is planned for the entirely normal child, and i t s drain upon the resources of this child is always pushed to the limit of safety. The child with defective vision is not a normal child, and should comparable to the various breeds of cattle. Realizing the hopelessness of further experi ments in this direction, attempts during recent years have been made to utilize some of these intractable creatures in another way, by hybrid izing—that is to say, by crossing them with domesticated animals. In Canada and the United States efforts are being made to cross domesti cated cattle with the bison, or, as it is erro neously called, the buffalo. So far, this experi ment has been only fairly successful. The end desired in this case is increased size and greater stamina. Another interesting experiment is being made in regard to the , humped cattle or ze- ■ bus. These are being crossed with European cattle, in order to pro duce a race of animals which will be immune to many of the tropi cal diseases so fatal to oxen of the ordi nary breeds. ping up of the pair of tiny ducts which carry the surplus tears from the eye into the nose.” have its studies arranged accordingly. Instead of being sent to school at the age of six or seven, it should be kept home until if is twelve, and its pe riods of book study should be short. Until nine years old a child should spend no more than three hours a day at Its studies. At nine another hour may be added, and at ten the customary five hours may be safely attempted. This should be the limit for boys until they are sixteen, and for girls until they are eighteen. I rather doubt if it is ever safe for a girl or woman to give more than five hours a day to severe mental exercise. When your child reads or writes at home let it do so in the daytime, and see that it sits where the light will fall from over the left shoulder. In writing, if the light comes from the right, the hand casts a shadow, and this causes a peculiarly severe strain upon the eyes. Until the child is ten years old it should read notning but large type, and no more than a doz en pages a day. It Is needless to say, of course, that the child who is per mitted to read itself to sleep, or to read in a dim light, or frpm a book printed with small type, or a glossy paper, is doomed to eye trouble. Stray germs and flying dust cause most of the minor eye maladies from which children suffer. A typical dis ease of this sort is conjunctivitis, or "pink-eye.” It is caused hy the lodg ment of germs in the inner lining of the eyelid. As there are many va rieties of germs capable of producing it, this disease is very common, and frequently appears in epidemic form. At its mildest it Is a simple infection which disappears after a few days. At its worst, when it is caused, for example, byl diphtheria germs in the eye, it may become extremely serious. The treatment is ordinarily confined to irrigation with mild antiseptic washes, administered with a dropper. Sometimes it is necessary to apply Ice compresses, or to combat the tenacious germs with strong drugs. In such cases a physician must be summoned, since it is very hazardous for inexperienced persons to deal with the human eye. In ordinary cases the boracic acid wash described above will afford relief. The patient should always be kept in a darkened room until the pain ceases. The so-called “sty” is nothing more or less than a .small pimple upon the edge of the eyelid, it usually comes to a head and discharges its pus in a few days, and after that it quickly heals. When a “sty” happens ;o be uncommonly large or painful it may be necessary to have a physician lance it, but ordinarily a mild mercurial ointment will afford all the aid that nature need3. When “stys” appear frequently the child's gen eral health needs attention. A very painful eye malady is caused by the stopping up of the tiny ducts which carry the tears from the eyes to the nose. When the bodily machine is working nor mally, just enough tears are secreted to lubricate the eyeball. The eyelid, in the act of ’winking, spreads them over the eye, and the waste runs down the nasal ducts to the nose. When dust irritates the eye, or some powerful mental impression stimulates the tear-making giands, tears flow in extraordinary quantity and the eyeball is suffused. They come so fast that the nasal ducts can’t carry them all off, and they run down the cheeks. But, all the same, the ducts do their best, and so, when a child weeps, a part of its tears escape by way of its nose, and it “sniffles.” If these ducts, by accident or disease, are clogged up, the tears needed for the ordinary lubrication of the eye ball run over the lower lid and the patient has ‘‘watery eyes.” To remedy this a surgeon must be consulted. He will pass a series of probes through the ducts, be ginning with one as fine as a needle and ending with one as large as a small lead pencil. This will clean and stretch the ducts and restore them to their old useful ness as drains of the eyes. The surgeon is needed, too, to correct crossed or squint eyes. This disfigurement is due to a faulty balancing of the eye in its socket. The muscles on one side pull harder than those on the other, and as a result the eye turns. The remedy consists in splitting the more powerful muscle. This weakens it' and thus equalizes the pull on both sides. The eye then assumes a normal position. It is sometimes possible to straighten the eye by the use of glasses and without an operation, but this method is so tedious and uncertain that It is usually best to have recourse to surgery. Let me lay stress upon the necessity for taking good care of the eyes. Nearly every one is quick to seek relief for any eye malady attended by inflammation or other visible symptoms, but there is a general tendency to regard eye-strain and defective vision as purely local afflictions, and to treat them more as annoyances than as definite diseases. The child with defective sight is irritable, and this is reflected in the bodily processes as well as in the disposition. The Way to Acquire a GOOD SPEAKING VOICE T HERE is nothing more attractive in a person than a beautiful speaking voice, but, although this fact is universally acknowledged, few persons really try to at tain this attraction. Nevertheless, it is How Decent BURIAL Will Be Provided for DEAD CHURCHES T HE church throughout the ages has had charge of the solemn duty of burial. It probably never oocurrod to any one until recently that some thing would be necessary to bury the ohurch. Yet at this time an active movement is on foot to organize a society to give "decent burial” to “dead” churches. If this is actually done, as is extremely probable, we will see the dead burying the dead, according to Scripture. The new society is to be organized with branches among all the religious sects, and has already the sup port of a large number of devout church people. Re ligious conferences have repeatedly pointed out the growing number of empty and abandoned houses of worship throughout the country and suggested ways and means for reclaiming them. In spite of all efforts, the ranks of the dead churches have grown until they have become an offense to re ligiously minded persons, not only on account of their numbers, but because of the worldly purposes to which the sacred buildings are put. “Gasolene, 19 cents a gallon,” appears where once the pastor’s text was lettered. Moving pictures have crept An Idea Thai May Make EGGS CHEAPER O NE of the reasons for the high cost of eggs is because they are so fragile that unless you go ’£o much pains and expense in patfklng them they cannot be shipped any distance without break ing. Even when every known pre caution has been taken, the number broken Is usually sufficient to raise the price per dozen to the consumer quite materially. Although this is a problem that has been with us ever since hens began to lay and men began to eat eggs, it bus persistently baffled our Ingenuity. One half crazy inventor tried to solve the problem by feed ing his hens a chemical which ho believed would make the shells of their eggs ‘ less breakable, but he succeeded only in poisoning his fowls. Since the establishment of the parcels post the need for some way of packing eggs so they will not break has been felt more than ever. If it were possible for every con sumer to receive frequent ship ments of eggs through the mails he would he able to obtain a fresher product than he now does at a lower price. At last an Oregon man seems to have solved this troublesome prob lem. After a careful study of various geometrical designs, with the Idea of determining how the greatest number of uniform spheroid and ovoid objects could be packed in a limited space and at the same time he pm*tfcd t/am Urwkjge, he has t. 6 A Man Standing on a Case of Eggs Without Cracking a Single Shell. evolved a paper packing case which Is making gqod under all sorts of severe tests. This case is so light that the ex pense of sending it by parcel post or express Is very slight. It Is so com pact that twice as many eggs can be carried in the same space as with the equipment now in use. And at the same time it is strong enough to stand all sorts of rough handling and to protect its fragile contents from damage. When one of these new cases is filled with eggs a man can walk across the top layer with out fear of cracking a single shell. One of the caseiA filled with eggs was loaded on an express wagon, over the hind wheels, and hauled rapidly over the roughest of plank logging-roads for three hours. It was then dumped, as any unbreakable box of freight might be handled, on to the depot platform. Just one of the 50 dozen eggs was broken, and that was due to a slight imperfec tion in the case, which was hand- s made. This will be easily overcome ) when the fillers are turned out by i machinery and are all uniform. \ Representatives of the British as *1 well as our own Government are 1 watching the tests of the new in- s vention with Interest, and negotia- < tions are under way for financing an ' organization to manufacture and \ market it on a large scale. The cases can be manufactured ' very cheaply, it is said, and will do j good service for a long time. into abandoned houses of prayer in nearly every State in the Union. In Boston a gas company has occupied a nice little church. In Pittsfield a Summer hotel has cheerfully converted a church designed by Bulfinch into a dance hall. Here the time-stained rafters look down upon the unholy sight of tangoes, bunny hugs and turkey trots. New Y’ork City is full of houses of worship turned over to unholy purposes. A Madison avenue church now harboi'3 a very active express office. One of Mr. Froh- man’s stage directors frequently rents a deserted church further downtown for the unholy purpose of training Chorus girls in their steps. A saloon will be found doing business still further south, unabashed by the faict that a few years ago a pulpit once stood near the present site of the bar. How little the ministers of some years ago thought as they in veighed against the demon rum that they were destined to be turned out in his favor. Stables, garages and moving picture shows aud prize fights pay the rent of other churches now that the plate is passed no more. Such sights as these are shocking to devout persons. The society, when organized, purposes to rescue aban doned churches and tear them down. Then if saloons and theatres must go up in their place, at least the house of God will not be mocked. within the reach of everybody, and can be obtained with but very little effort. A daily fifteen minutes or half hour of work is all that is necessary. In the first place, one must gain control of the voice producer, the breath. Begin by taking just ordinary breathing exercises every day, deep inhalations, filling the lungs to their capacity and expanding the dia phragm with each breath. Soon you will find you possess a new strength, force and power beyond words to describe. Now, having gained the moving voice force, direct your attention to the voice itself. Most speaking voices have from five to eight primary notes. The first one is the lowest the voice is capable of touching easily, with no effort or sound of hoarseness, and then on up the scale to the highest that can be pitched without sound of shrillness and attained only with absolute ease. These notes are the background, as it were, of the speaking voice. We must use them first, later adding the other tones. Take a deep breath, then sound the vowel "a” (ah) up and down the scale on these primary notes, at the same time exercising great care to think each tone as far forward In the mouth as possible, while also striving to keep from using the slightest effort so far as “forcing" the tone is concerned. In other words, vocalize the spoken tone with as much gentleness and sweetness as possible. The mouth must be well open and the jaw relaxed. After repeating this exercise several times, begin to intone words on these same notes, speaking them gently and placing them as far forward in the mouth as you did in the exercise, all the while being careful to no tice the sound of each word, its quality, tone and placement. Take a poem or prose selec tion like Shelley’s- “Cloud,” for instance, and intone it carefully on the primary notes, chanting each verse on a different key, but with no inflection. Then take the same poem and “speak” it in the different keys. Gradually you will find that the voice is taking on a different tone and developing in richness and quality, and then follows the detection of faults in your own voice, which you are now eager to overcome. When onca the ear is trained, the time is not far dis tant when you will have attained that much coveted possession—a beautiful speaking voice. Think at least twice before using your voice once if it is well trained, and try never to utter a word that is not clear, distinct and well modulated. Hurried, careless habits of life and a tendency to irritability are respon sible for the harsh tones of many voices which nature fitted for something better than to grate on our ears as they do. How the BEST FURS Are Grown to Order on FARMS W 1 E no longer have to depend on Nature’s uncertain chances and the skill of the hunter and trapper for the finest furs. Better pelts than ever came out of the wilder ness are now being produced on farms where some of the more valuable fur-bearing animals are being successfully bred in captivity. It is ho-ped that the methods of breeding will some day reach a point where furs of a particular fineness or with any desired marking can be grown to suit the special wishes of each pur chaser. Fur farming was begun as a result of the singular success of the ostrich farmer, and the blue fox was the first animal to be scientiftcally bred in this way. The results surprised everybody, finer' skins being put on the market from the captive animals than had ever been obtained from the wild ones. There is a curious reason for this. The fur of the blue fox, which is the trade name for Arc tic fox, reaches perfection in the Winter time, when it is the long est. But the wild animal often very inconsiderately spoils hi- coat by his habit of basking in the midday sun. Not that the sun hurts the fur, but the warmth of the animal’s body melts the ice, which speedt'y freezes agaiu and encloses the tips of the longest hairs, so that when the animal rises these are plucked out and left behind. When kept In the enclosures pro vided for them on the fur farms, however, the animals do not lose their valuable long hairs. Attempts are now being made to breed skunk, mink and sable In the same way. Scientists are earnestly in hope that the effort will be sucees- ful, for otherwise all three of these animals are doomed to early extinction. The skunk, as everybody knows, has the power of dispersing a fluid that has a particularly vile odor, and is possessed of a singular pertinacity. It is ejected with great force aud precision from two large glands placed at the base of the tail. This power insures for its owner respectful treatment, both from man and beast. It mad* skunk farming a very uncertain Joy, till som* genius hit on the happy idea of removing th* glands from the young animals The skunks ar* in no wise the worse for the deprivation If the experiments with skunk, mink and sabl* prove successful, breeders plan to add the chia chilla and the egret to the list of the fur-hearin% animals that can be bred in captivity; but th* prospects of success with these are very small, indeed. When the HUMAN RACE Is BANKRUPT W HEN a man has spent all his resources and can't meet his obligations he is bankrupt. The hu man race within a time variously estimated will have dug out the last available ton of coal and metal from the earth. That substitutes will he found from time to time cannot be doubted; that man may keep going indefinitely so far as metals and fuels are con cerned and then stave off racial bankruptcies in these matters is not impossible. But long before the coal and iron are gone he must face another problem—that of food. All animals are parasites in that they live by eating other animals or by consuming vegetable food. It is conservatively figured that the earth, if cultivated with the utmost skill and intelligence, may be able in the end to feed permanently one thousand million human beings Before the end of the present century the earth is ex pected to have at least that population. As soon as the population grows beyond this poin\ some one must starve, even though the last beast and bird has been killed and all non-edible plants have given way to fruits and grains. ' When this time arrives the race must either ceast multiplying or learn the secret of the plant and “eat dirt.” Then man can multiply until the world no longer provides standing room. Copyright, 1919, by the Star Company. Great Britain Rights Reserved.