Use of artificial light, for children under seven or eight years of age, for drawing, painting, reading, looking at pictures, or other fine work
Long application to close work at any age
Use of eyes for reading, pictures, or other fine work before breakfast
The child can be taught from babyhood to sit so that the light falls from the left upon his pictures or drawing, and not to sit either directly facing the window or with his back squarely against it.
Reading for five minutes requires more than a thousand separate movements of the eye,—as much work as is required of it in an hour of ordinary use; and the ciliary muscle, which controls the eye accommodation, probably is required in that five minutes to do as much work as in a day of ordinary seeing.
This has an important bearing upon the question of how early a child should begin reading, writing, sewing, or fine handwork; certainly, from the standpoint of hygiene, such work should be deferred until at least seven or eight years, and then begun only with the assurance of the oculist that the eyes can stand the strain.
School children should be taught to read with the best conditions, viz.:
Light from the left
Strong steady light
Light placed so it does not shine directly into the eyes and face