OPTICAL ASSOCIATION

Evening Star, Issue 22069, 1 July 1935, Page 2

OPTICAL ASSOCIATION

MONTHLY MEETING At the monthly meeting of the Otago and Southland Optical Association Mr P. Dick presided over a fair attendance of members. The lecturer for the evening was Mr 11. Bridgeman, who spoke on ‘ The Eye in Systemic Diseases.’ Mr Bridgcman’s opening remarks revealed how essential a public servant the optician had become, especially in recent years, probably due to the increased and increasing strain of life under modern conditions. Not yet, however, had they progressed to the stage where the medical practitioner was regarded without a certain amount of awe and the reluctance to consult him except in cases of extremities overcome. The visual organs wore affected by so many systemic troubles that , the optician was often consulted when medical treatment was really required. It was, therefore, the duty of the practising optician to be

able to detect and diagnose as far as was possible from the symptoms complained of by the patients, any latent disease which might indirectly bo the cause of eyestrain. From the optician to the doctor was a shorter and easier step, which most patients would consent to take when strongly advised. Among the many diseases which the optician might observe in the course of his examination, said Mr Bridgeman, were the circulatory trouble of hardening arteries, optical neuritis, diabetes, septic tonsils, abscessed teeth, and catarrh. The detailed summary of the symptoms, which might be observed in an examination of the eyes revealing the presence of these systemic disorders concluded the address. Mr Bridgeman was accorded n hearty vote of thank*,