QUESTION OF A TITLE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21112, 20 February 1932, Page 9

QUESTION OF A TITLE.

USE OF WORD " OPTICIAN." CHANCE TO "OPTOMETRIST." A lively controversy is proceeding in Sydney among those who provide glasses. A statute passed recently confers the title of optometrist to replace that of optician. fThere is a marked division of opinion on the question whether all practitioners should be compelled to use the title of optometrist and to cast the title of optician into oblivion. The new school ;s very firm in its demand for the title of optometrist and the old school, or a substantial part of it, desires the title optician, for the reason that the public is familiar with it and does not comprehend the other. It was stated recently by one who is qualified to know that it would take two generations to educate the people to use the word "optometrist." In the meantime some practitioners will lose money and, to the unthinking, perhaps reputation also.. Persons requiring attention to, the eyes may consider that "optometrist," being new, means more than "oculist" and "optician" combined; on the other hand, they may think that it is better to stick to a word with which they are more familiar. A correspondent says: "The discussion will be almost unending. The demand to remove from windows the word "optician will not be generally obeyed, but spectacle makers, with offices on the upper, floors of some buildings, as many have, fear that in some way nob clear to the public they will suffer injury.