Near-sightedness, like most of the disorders of the eyesight, is to be traced to causes which act during childhood, and which causes are all entirely preventable. Imperfect lighting of rooms in which children study or play is one of the chief among these preventable causes. When the windows are improperly constructed or placed, or when the artificial light is faulty in school-rooms, the book is naturally brought close to the eyes in order that it may be more easily read. The consequence of this is either that near-sightedness is quickly produced, or that the eyes soon become fatigued and permanently weakened. No less injurious is the effort to read 'between the lights' or before the fire. School-books with too small type, and school-desks which are too low or too far from the seats, are the direct cause of much mischief to many young eyes. Let parents, therefore, see to it that the school-rooms to which they send their children are clearly and properly lighted, that the books which they study are printed in a bold, clear type, and that no reading or study is permitted by a flickering or a dim light, nor before a desk or table which forbids a tolerably erect position of the head and shoulders.
THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSE OF HEARING.
The education of this sense is second only in importance to that of the sight. First of all, attention should be directed to the preservation of the health of the organ.
Many cases of deafness among children originate in long standing diseases of the nose and throat; others in obstinate skin affections; while not a few are caused by a want of cleanliness, which permits of the accumulation of wax in the passage of the ear.
The sensibility of the nerve which conveys impressions of sound from the ear to the brain can be greatly increased by exercise and training, when the organ is in a condition of health. It can be so highly developed that the ear will readily catch very feeble sounds.
A learned physician has recently pointed out with some force that sufficient attention is not paid to the conformation of the pavilion of the ear. Upon this conformation much of the delicacy of hearing depends. The hats which children wear, usually compress and deform the pavilion. Physiologists have shown that it ought to make an angle of about thirty degrees with the skull, in order to best collect sonorous vibrations. This angle is very much diminished by our artificial head-dresses, and to the detriment of acuteness of hearing.
Can education do much for the improvement of hearing? Everyday experience answers in the affirmative. There is an exercise which cannot be too highly commended to parents, which consists in inducing in play their children, even those very young, to detect from as far as they can faint and fading sounds. It is a game which amuses them much, and it is a pleasing sight to see the rivalry of several young children, each of whom with head bent forward, is earnestly trying to distinguish a receding sound longer than its fellows. A little ingenuity will readily devise amusing and useful plays with this object in view.
The training of the remaining special senses is of comparatively minor importance to that of those we have been considering, and need not detain us. We will only remind the reader of the wonderful adroitness and delicacy of touch possessed by the blind as an example of what this sense is capable of when educated.