MR. LOWE'S SPECTACLES.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 254, 14 February 1877, Page 3

MR. LOWE'S SPECTACLES.

In a sketch of the Right H>»n. Herbert Lowe, the HVM refers as t'ol!ows to his ondneaa for reading, and his defective sight i—lt may be said of Mr. Lowe that he is an almost incessant reader. }>ytliing emties amiss to him—pamphlets, philo-so-phieat treatises, essays, ami novels. Early in the morning or hue at night, at even* odd moment he has a yellow-covered romance in his hand, novel-reading being the wildest of dissipation in which he indulge*. He is a subscriber to the London Library, and sends up a list which astonishes the officials of that institution. H hat tst most extraordinary is, that alt this reading. saving for an ti»»itr «r two in the- evening, when he engages someone to read to hspn, is- done by a man who is compelled tw follow each and ever}" line ot printed matter from end t«» end, word bj' word. This tedious toil is imposed by peculiar conditions under which only he can read at alii with any kind of comfort. The eyes under his white, bushy, almost Thurloviau eyebrows ar® »*» defective that their possessor can read neither wi'.li nor without spectacles. Destitute »»f fwywM: *»/«»» n.ijvv;ui. r the delicate pupils require protec kit >ft from the feotk-swarehing sunlight, and assistance in magnifying |»»>w«r withotti the disadvantage of refraction. Ordinary spectacles are therefore nacl««, and Mr. L'»w-e, having tried in vain the devices of opticians, excogitated for himself an instrument which has proved completely successful. Observing the fondness of children for baking through a piece* of paper pierced with a iwlplu of minute holes in order to magnify objects, he was struck with the idea that a somewhat simitar contrivance, which should magnify without refract in.; ant exclude thy rays ft mtdcraMo day at the same time, would serve his purpose eX'icity. Ah r various experiments he pr.diiivil the famous "g>>ggles" that he tw..-;. They are e»;up< >s>ed of a couple ot t ie pieces of metal known to anglers as spoonbaits. connected with a pieea of tliwtic webbing acn>ss the nose, aud a longer piece to tit round the hath of the head. The spoon-baits—with the c.mvex side outward, of coarse—tit (the writer has tried them) very comfortably over the eyes. On first putting them on, the light is almost uiluvlv excluded ; but as they are more perfectly adjusted, a small but clear held of vision appears through a tiny perforation opposite the pupil of each eye. The aim is eniupteudy attained : the object i» magnified, and it he eye relieved from the torture occasioned by refraction. There is but one disadvantage in the trse of gobies —the field is so small that the head musr. in rtadmg be kept constantly »it t r, e move.