SHOUT SIGHT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 47, 13 March 1885, Page 17

SHORT SIGHT IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Thb following has been handed to us (Lyttelton Times) for publication :—: — DB. BCHWABZBACH'S EEPOBT. To the Secretary of the Board of Education of North Canterbury. Christ church, March 2. Dear Sir, — according to my promise, I hand you herewith the resnlt of my examination of the sight of the pupils attending the Normal school in Christchnrch. The object of this examination was to ascertain the percentage of short-sight among3t the schoolchildren. The result may prove important for the purpose of future comparison. I found, at the said school, amongst 431 girls 27 cases, and amongst 367 boys 22 cases of short-Bight, more or less developed. Through the courtesy of the head mistress of the Girls' High School, and of the head master of the Boys' High School, I examined also, in the former, 115 girls (19 cases of short sight), and, in the latter, 84 boys (8 cases of shorty sight). From my detailed report on ophthalmic data connected with New Zealand, and compiled for transmission to a scientific journal, I make the following short extract:— Out of the 998 pupils examined in Christchurch between the ages of 7 and 18 (the period where a faulty refraction of the eye begins to develop itself : more readily), I found 75, or 7£ per cent, of the total number suffering from short sight, there being among 451 boys 31 cases, and among 547 girls 44 cases. A more detailed result may be gathered from the following figures : — The degree of short sight is expressed in fractional form, after Snellon's method ; for instance, 20-30 implies that the eye can only recognise objects at a distance of ,20ft., which are to a normal sight recognisable at 30ft. In like manner 20-50 signifies that objects are distinguishable only at 20ft. which should be at 50ft., and so on. 923 possess good sight, or ... 20*20 41 have sight represented by ... 20*30 14 do do ... 20-40 9 do do ... 20*50 4 do do ... 20-70 2 do do ... 20-100 2 do do ... 20-200 1 do do ... 15-200 5 do do ... 10-200 If we take from the above the 41 cases represented by the figures 20*30 (a degree of short sight not very strongly developed, which with increasing age often rectifies itself) we find that amongst the 998 pupils there are only 34 cases of a marked character, 11 of them being of a serious natuie. From the above statement it must not be inferred that the remaining 923 children are all posses ed of entirely normal sight. Some are far sighted (hyperopic) and a few weak sighted (amblyopic). Of these I give no detail, my object being to ascertain the extent of that modern disease— short sight, which has spread throughout Europe with giant stride. The given percentage (7^) is a low figure as compared with short sight in English schools (16 per cent), and in German shools (26 per cent). In Sydney, where 1 made similar examinations at the desire of the Board of Education of New South Wales, I ascertained 10 per cent. The more rural life of the children of New Zealand, and especially the excellent manner in which the windows are arranged in the Christchurch schools, are probably the cause of the rather favourable result of my researches. Allow me, dear sir, to express my thinks to you, and to Mr. Rayner, head master of the Normal School, for facilitating my investigations. — I remain, yours obediently, B. SCHWABZBAXJH, M.D.