BETTER EYESIGHT

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF IMPERFECT SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES

MARCH, 1926

Demonstrate

THAT CENTRAL FIXATION improves the vision. The normal eye is always at rest and always has central fixation. Central fixation cannot be obtained through any effort. When an effort is made by the normal eye, central fixation is always lost. In central fixation, one sees best the point regarded while all other points are seen less clearly.
Look at the upper left hand corner of the back of a chair. Note that all other parts of the chair are not seen so well. Look at the top of a letter at a distance at which it can be seen clearly. Then quickly look at the bottom of the letter. Alternate. When the eyes go up, the letter appears to move down. Then the eyes move down, the letter appears to move up. Coincident with this movement, you can observe that you see best the point regarded and all other points less clearly or less distinctly. When you can imagine the letter to be moving, it is possible for you to see best where you are looking.
The size of the letter or object seen, does not matter. Central fixation can be demonstrated with the smallest letters which are printed, or the smallest objects. Close the eyes and remember or imagine how the small letter would look if you imagined one part best. By shifting from one part of the letter to another, central fixation with the eyes closed may be made continuous for one-half minute or longer. Then with the eyes open, it is possible for one second or less to see, remember, or imagine the same small letter or other objects in the same way,—one part best.
Note that when the letters are read easily and clearly, they are always seen by central fixation, and relaxation is felt. Central fixation is a rest to the nerves and when practiced continuously, it relieves strain and improves the vision to normal.

Imagination is good. One may even see the white part of letters whiter than it really is, while the black is not altered by distance, illumination, size, nor form of the letters.
IMAGINATION is good in normal sight. When the sight is normal, the imagination is normal. The converse is also true,—when the imagination is normal, the sight is normal. A cure is obtained when the imagination is improved to the normal. One may imagine a letter of the Snellen test card very well, while regarding it, with the eyes open. When the sight is normal, the imagination may be as good and usually much better with the eyes closed than with the eyes open. When the sight is perfect, one can imagine with the eyes open, objects of all sizes and forms, familiar or strange, just as well as he can with the eyes closed. Under favorable conditions of environment, namely, light, distance, and restful surroundings, the imagination is usually good. A perfect imagination can only be obtained when the memory is perfect. When the memory is perfect, the consciousness of the movement of all things remembered or imagined can always be demonstrated. The eyes are constantly shifting when the imagination is good. After the shifting stops, the perfect imagination is modified, or lost.
It is not possible to have a perfect imagination and an imperfect one at the same time. For example, one cannot remember a black color perfectly black, and a white color imperfectly white simultaneously. When a black letter with a white center is imagined perfectly, both the white and the black are perfect. It is impossible to imagine the letter with a perfect white center and an imperfect or gray-black outline. When the imagination is perfect for one thing, it is also perfect for all things. When a patient makes his first visit, the vision of each eye is tested for the Snellen test card at about fifteen feet. If the large letter of the Snellen test card cannot be distinguished at this distance, the card is brought closer until the letter is clear enough to be recognized. Experience has demonstrated that trying to improve the vision of such patients at fifteen feet or further is disappointing, but when they practice with the card at ten feet or nearer, the vision usually improves immediately. Some near-sighted patients have good sight at six inches, but not at twelve inches. By having them read as well as they can at six inches and then look at the card at twelve inches for a moment, the vision usually improves. Some patients can see very well at five feet for a short time. They are instructed to always close their eyes when their sight becomes imperfect, and when they open them, to keep them open for just a moment or a flash. This alternate resting the eyes by closing them and looking at the letters just for a second is a benefit to a great many. There are, however, a large number of patients who are not benefited at all by this method, because as soon as they open their eyes or even before that, they stare or strain and make an effort to see.
It helps very much to suggest to the patient that he use the word "imagination" and not the word "sight." To most people, to improve the imagination seems easier than to improve the sight, and quite a number believe that when they know what the letter is, although they may not see it, they can always imagine it. It is interesting to observe that when the imagination of a letter is improved by resting the eyes, other letters on the card not regarded become blacker and the whiteness of the card whiter. It is frequently demonstrated that one of the best ways of improving the sight is to improve the imagination of letters that are known. Often a patient says that he can imagine a known letter and sometimes thinks that he sees it, but he and his friends are usually very suspicious of the vision obtained when regarding a familiar card whose letters are known. It is necessary to demonstrate in various ways that when the imagination is improved, the vision is improved. This statement, however, does not convince the patient. The only test that is convincing is to test the patient with an unfamiliar card. It is oftentimes quite a shock to him to find that he can quite frequently read an unfamiliar card with much better vision than he is able to imagine or see the card that was familiar.
If a patient is unable to read fine print at twelve inches from the eyes or nearer, great benefit is derived from imagining the white spaces between the lines to be whiter than the rest of the card. When the white spaces are imagined perfectly white, the black letters are imagined perfectly black. When the imagination of the white is perfect enough, the imagination of the black letters is also sufficiently perfect, so that the letters are read easily without effort or strain, and without consciously looking at the letters. It is good practice to have a patient decide to imagine the white spaces perfectly white. If the letters improve, one should not try to read them. It is exceedingly difficult for most people to do this. With the slightest improvement in the white spaces coincident with a corresponding improvement in the blackness of the letters, the temptation to forget the white spaces and try to read the letters is very great. If one is unable to confine his attention to the white spaces, improvement in the ability to read may be very slow or impossible. To play the game, one must play it fairly and not be in a hurry to read the fine print when the imagination of the white spaces improves. In some cases it is well for the patient to close the eyes and remember the whitest white he has ever seen. This may be white snow, a white pillow, or whitewash. Then open the eyes and flash the white spaces, imagining them to be as white or whiter than the object remembered.
The imagination is not modified by the illumination. It is very interesting to find patients with good sight who can imagine things perfectly in a dim light. When this is accomplished, the clearness of all things seen, gives one the impression that the light has increased. For example, there are many people who, after the lights have been dimmed in the theatre, can read the program apparently as well as they can when the light is good. Patients with imperfect sight are troubled by the dim light more than are patients with normal vision.
Other environmental conditions affect the vision,—excitement of various kinds, unexpected noises and unusual occurrences. When some people go to a circus, they may become very near-sighted in a few minutes, although when attending a performance at the theatre, their eyes do not trouble them. Others cannot see well at the opera, because they are not accustomed to observing people's faces so far away, and yet on the street in all kinds of light they may have normal vision. When people with imperfect sight, try to find their way about in dark places, they strain their eyes to such an extent that they suffer pain, headache, and become exceedingly nervous. People with normal eyes and normal sight maintain a perfect imagination in strange as well as familiar places.
The normal eye is able to imagine the white centers of black letters whiter than they really are. Other people with imperfect sight imagine the white center of a letter "O," for example, of the same shade of white, or less white than the rest of the card. The use of a screen helps such patients to improve their imagination. Use a card or piece of paper with an opening slightly smaller than the white center of the letter "O." Cover the black part of the letter with the card, exposing the white center. By alternately closing the eyes, resting them, the patient becomes able to see or imagine he sees the center of the "O" to be less white than it appears to be when the black part of the letter is exposed.
No patient is cured until he becomes able to imagine a letter at ten feet or further as well as he can see it at one foot or less. In this connection, it is well to emphasize the fact that the cure of imperfect sight can only be accomplished without effort. Too many patients believe that the cure of imperfect sight is very complicated, and that they have to make a great effort. It is only when they become convinced that the one way they can obtain perfect sight is by rest, or that when their sight is imperfect, a strain is necessary to keep it imperfect, that a permanent improvement, is obtained. A sufficient improvement of the imagination is a cure of imperfect sight. Patients with perfect sight have a perfect imagination of the things that they can remember. Patients with imperfect sight always have an imperfect imagination.
So many people look with contempt on the imagination, especially when it comes to treatment of the eyes. Most people do not associate imagination with perfect vision. They are of the opinion that they can imagine they see something without actually seeing it. This is not so. Perfect imagination and perfect vision are identical.
Of all the discoveries that I have made, there is none of so much practical value as the discovery of the importance of the imagination.

Stories from the Clinic

No. 73: MARGARET MARY

By EMILY C. LIERMAN

MARGARET MARY is not yet five years of age. Her mother told me that an eye specialist prescribed glasses for her when she was two years old to be worn constantly for the cure of squint, which she had contracted after an attack of whooping cough. The squint was alternate, sometimes the right eye turned in, at other times the left.
When I tested her sight at the first visit, October 24, 1925, the vision of each eye was one-fifth of the normal. She is an obedient child and did what I told her. At my request, she covered both eyes with her hands. I asked her to remember her dollie. She smiled and asked: "Which one?"
I answered: "Your best dollies"
I found that Mary had a good memory for colors. When I asked her what the color of her best dollie's dress was, she answered: "Pink." As she, herself, was wearing a blue dress, I tested her memory for colors by asking her if the dollie's dress were the same color as the dress she was wearing. She peeped between her fingers, looked at me and said: "No, my dress is blue." I asked her if the dollie had black shoes like hers. She answered: "No, she hasn't any shoes."
All these questions were necessary in order to encourage the child to imagine perfect mental pictures and obtain relaxation. After she had palmed five minutes, I told her to remove her hands from her eyes and look at the card. Her vision, when tested, had improved to one-half of the normal.
I taught the child how to sway her body from side to side, as I held her hands and moved with her. While we were doing this, Mary's mother looked on. She was amazed when the eyes became straight from the swaying. Then I told the mother how important it was to have the child practice the swaying several times every day. She has a victrola in her home, and I advised the mother to play a waltz, if possible, when the child was swaying.
When Mary returned a week later, I noticed that the squint was much better. She placed her arms about me and said she loved me, because I removed her glasses. I tested her sight and found that it had improved considerably. When she was reading the card for me, there were times when she sighed. This was a signal that she was tired. I would then lead her to the drawer in which some candy is kept. If parents do not object, I give my little patients some good candy, while they are practicing. In my experience, nothing has relieved eye fatigue in children so much as a little candy.
During a treatment, in which her eyes were perfectly straight, two boys came into the room. I watched Mary and noticed that her left eye turned in considerably. I immediately placed the boys in another room. When I returned and spoke kindly to Mary, her left eye became perfectly straight again. Her aunt, who had brought her, was amazed at the quick relief of the squint. It was very evident that the unexpected presence of the two boys had caused a strain which produced the squint.
Before she left me that day, her vision had improved to four-fifths of the normal. On January 16, 1926, her vision had improved to the normal with the eyes straight. Up to this time, we had been using the card with the letter E of different sizes pointing in various directions. As she did not know numbers, I taught them to her with the aid of a Snellen test card consisting of figures up to ten, while holding the card about one foot from her eyes. She was delighted with the change and her eyes remained straight all the time. Her joy was unbounded when I told her that she could take the card home with her.
One week later, she was able to tell every figure on the numeral card.
This case was interesting. The child had been wearing glasses prescribed by a competent doctor for two years without relief. The squint was not cured nor benefited by them, because it returned just as soon as the glasses were removed. Even while wearing them, the squint was usually evident, and the vision was not improved. A study of her treatment and the results, showed that the cause of the squint and the imperfect sight, was a nervous strain. Many children as well as adults can produce a temporary squint by a stare or strain.
Investigation has proved that this fact should be emphasized. For more than one hundred years, ophthalmologists have declared repeatedly that the imperfect sight of a squinting eye is usually incurable. Many writers make the statement that children are born with squint. In these cases, the blindness is usually more marked at the centre of sight, and yet, with the ophthalmoscope, the centre of sight may look perfectly normal. One celebrated writer tried to explain the facts in a few words by stating that the blindness of squint was a condition in which neither the patient nor the doctor could see anything, meaning, as was stated above, that although the sight of the squinting eye may be very poor or entirely absent, the ophthalmoscope shows no evidence of disease of the retina. All cases of squint are cured by treatment which eliminates strain.