Motion Picture Story Magazine (Feb-Jul 1912)

obscure stomach trouble to deal with, in the absence of other explanation, looks to the eyes. Eye-strain has a most potent and far-reaching influence on digestion. I know of one case of chronic dyspepsia, of a year's standing, completely cured by a change of eye-glasses." "A change of glasses" — there you have one makeshift that brings temporary relief. It might have been a prescription for a first pair of glasses. Glasses are not to be despised. They are a great invention. So are crutches. But it would be better than crutches to enable a man to go about on his own legs. Glasses, however we may regard their disfigurement, do not really answer the great eye questions : How can eyes be made stronger to meet the strain of modern life? How can troubles resulting from eye-strain be corrected or ameliorated? The crutches, yes — if you must. But just as new science in physiology has done wonders in correcting deformities and crippled conditions that formerly made mechanical support necessary, so has a new science met this problem of the eyes. And this new science reached difficulties that no glasses can aid. How does it do this? First, by recognizing the intricate structure of the eye system. Second, by meeting and treating the defective conditions brought about by strain — strain past and strain to come. "Eye-strain" is the strain on the muscles of the eye, and as Douglas C. McMurtrie remarks in his "Conservation of Vision," eye-strain is "the most widely spread of all disorders of the eye." This author adds: "It is likely that the effects of this form of eye trouble are greater and more disastrous than all other forms put together." Scores of specialists in Europe and America might be quoted to the same effect — have shown that unsuspected eyestrain is hampering the progress of thousands of ambitious men and women. How shall these strained muscles be helped and our full body-power be restored ? How do we help strained muscles in other parts of the body? By manipulation— by massage that stimulates the normal circulation, suggesting new life to the tired muscles. Doctor de Schweinitz of Philadelphia, professor of ophthalmology in Jefferson College, speaks pointedly when he calls attention to the fact that in treating, without the knife, even so serious a condition as dreaded cataract of the eye, massage of the eyeball "has been followed by improvement in vision and deepening of the anterior chamber." The Medical Record, speaking of the same condition, insists upon the value of "any means that would bring an increased blood supply," and urges that "the most feasible plan seemed to be properly applied massage." The formidable difficulty of attempting to accomplish this massage with the hands seems to have been successfully met by a simple appliance invented a few years ago by a New York physician — a device that accomplishes safely and efficiently, on scientific principles, that delicate service impossible to mere hands. All great inventions seem simple and obvious when once they haA'e been accomplished. It may without exaggeration be suggested that no great invention ever was more timely than this, for the tired eyes of the world never needed an eye help as they need it now. It is equally safe to assume that thousands more spectacles will be discarded when this more natural, reasonable and effective aid to the real defects has begun to do its wide work in the world. The possibilities of this method of restoring health to the machinery of the eyes will be suggested when you remember the condition in which the unhelped eye so frequently falls. The loss of true form in the eye, resulting from tired or flabby muscles and poor circulation, means failure of focus and all the distresses of "near" or "far" sight. Hypermetropia, or far sight, is simply a flattening of the eyeball. Presbyopia, or old sight, is but a debility of the ciliary muscles ordinarily met by "stronger" and still stronger glasses — crutches for the eye which natural health in the muscles would entirely obviate. Every such failure of duty in the eye muscles and tissues tempts disease. You cannot put new muscles in an eye as you would a new belt on an engine, but you can restore health in these muscles, help them to a renewed strength that assures the doing of their natural work. This is the function of the device to which I have alluded — to give the eye the chances for its own health that we give to other parts of the body. Your eyes need this help, whether you have gone the length of wearing glasses, debated the need of them, or have only found in yourself a loss of bodily power inevitably following the prevalent overtaxing of these priceless servants. Used once or twice a day for a few minutes, this device is an adjunct of healthy activity held in enthusiastic esteem. It means vigor at the capitol of the conscious body, a buoyant, an energetic command of the forces that keep us up in the procession. The device and the system of eye massage, made possible by its use, are described in a highly interesting booklet by Dr. Pinco, of Dept. 17, 134 West 65th Street, New York, who will send it without cost to those who may be interested. I think you will thank me for calling your attention to it. At all events, I shall personally be gratified if I have awakened your interest in this great and neglected question of eyehelp, to its bearing on your capacity as an individual, and consequently to its certain effect, not only on your ambitions and fortunes as a producer, but on your comfort and happiness as a well-equipped social force in a strenuous world.