inner surface is blackened to absorb the
excessive light. The openings are horizontal slits. The eyes are thus
protected from the dazzling effect of the light.

My friend, Dr. Grady, of Omaha, communicated to me a history of three
hunters who almost lost their eyesight by too long exposure to the
bright rays of the sun falling on snow.

The abuse of tobacco leads to impairment of vision in the growing
youth. Cigarette smoking is an evil. I am inclined to believe that the
poison inhaled arrests the growth of boys; surely it prevents a mental
development, and, when carried to excess, affects vision more by
lessening the power of nerve conduction than acting directly on the
eye.

It is not the one cigarette which the boy smokes that does the harm,
but it is the one, two, or three packages smoked daily. This excessive
smoking thoroughly perverts all the functions which should be at their
best to aid this growing youth. First we have failing digestion,
restless nights, suspension of growth, lack of mental development, the
loss of nerve tone, loss of the power of accommodation in vision,
failing sight, headaches, enfeeblement of the heart. Let a man who is
a habitual smoker of cigars attempt to smoke even one package of
cigarettes and he will complain of nausea, dry throat, and loss of
appetite. If a strong man is so much affected by this poison, how much
less can a boy resist the inroads of such poisons? In Germany the law
forbids the sale of cigarettes to growing boys. New York State has a
similar law, and why should our own or any other State be behind in
passing prohibitory laws against this evil?--and this is a growing
evil.

I have never seen a case of tobacco amblyopia in boyhood, but such a
condition is not infrequent in adults. In boys the action of nicotine
acts especially upon the heart, the impulse is rendered weaker and
intermittent, and many young boys lay the seeds of organic disease
which sooner or later culminates fatally. Boys should be prohibited
from smoking, first by their parents, second by law, but not such laws
whose enforcement is a failure, third by placing a heavy fine upon
dealers who sell to minors. The pernicious evil of intoxication is no
less an evil upon the nervous system of a youth than is the habit of
cigarette smoking, but, fortunately, this habit is less common. Having
traced from aboriginal man to the present civilized individual the
cause of his myopia, what must we do to prevent