Eyes But They See Not

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Better Eyesight
A Monthly Magazine Devoted to the Prevention and Cure of Imperfect
Sight Without Glasses
Copyright, 1921, by the Central Fixation Publishing Company
Editor, W. H. Bates, M. D.
Publisher, Central Fixation Publishing Company
Vol. VII. - June, 1923 - No. 12

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Eyes But They See Not
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By Emily A. Meder
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The ostrich is known to be the swiftest of birds, and can
outdistance the fastest horse with ease. Yet when he is attacked
unexpectedly, or run into a cul-de-sac, he foolishly hides his head in
the sand. He DOESN'T WISH TO SEE. Naturally his fate overtakes him,
and he is doomed. His wonderful body, made especially for swift and
long-distance running, his exceptional endurance, are assets which
avail him nothing when he "sticks his head in the sand and will not
see."
I have come in contact with people who have many desirable assets
but when a thing looks a little "strange" they become dogmatic and
refuse to learn. They literally stick their tails in the air and their
heads in the sand. The same thing happens to them that happens to the
ostrich. Their doom overtakes him. THEY WEAR GLASSES. As evidence of
these "mental errors of refraction" I will tell of two instances which
I noticed particularly.
In a popular magazine there appears an article each month by a
very noted writer who gives Beauty Hints to women over forty years of
age. She gives very minute directions of the care of the hair, skin,
teeth and figure generally, and I admit I was very surprised to see an
item about the eyes. This, unfortunately, is part of the physiognomy
that is usually neglected by these Beauty Doctors. She explained that
from her observations, many people received excellent relaxation by
closing the eyes and forgetting that they possessed them, excluding
all the light by putting the palms of the hands over the eyes very
lightly, and thinking of black objects which tends to rest them more
quickly. This interested me because this is part of Dr. Bates' own
method. When I read on a little further, I was disagreeably astonished
to read something like this—"that she had heard of a new body of
oculists who say that they can cure eyes without glasses. This she
says is impossible, because when a woman reaches the age of forty, she
simply has to fortify her eyes with glasses, as this has been done for
centuries, and it does not seem possible that man has it in his power
to cure the defects at this age."
This is a typical case of the ostrich again. Why doesn't this
writer make herself more popular by believing this could be done, and
by reading the book with an open mind. She is in a position to help
thousands suffering with eye ills, and her scope is unlimited.
One more case of "mental blindness."
At a dinner given at the Hotel Astor under the auspices of the
Society of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Bates was asked to speak, along with
five or six other doctors, all specialists in their respective
branches. Senator-elect Royal S. Copeland was Toastmaster, and a very
good one he made. Everyone knows the far-reaching results of Dr.
Copeland's administration when he was a Commissioner of Health of the
City of New York. The many improvements he made while holding that
position are a credit to him. But even Dr. Copeland has a vulnerable
spot that might be pierced.
Doctor Bates was the first to speak, and as he knew many others
would speak after him, he limited his remarks to about ten minutes. He
gave a brief synopsis of his method of treating imperfect sight, and
ended by telling the audience that Germany had adopted his method, and
was using it in all the schools. At the conclusion of his discourse
and before the next speaker had been introduced, Senator Copeland
thanked the Doctor for his remarks, and said that he was sorry that
Dr. Bates did not have more time to explain his treatment, but he had
worn glasses for so long, and besides now being a United States
Senator, he was a hard man to convince.
We have no wish to "convince" anybody. If they read the book and
assimilate the facts, they will convince themselves. PEOPLE WEAR
GLASSES FROM HABIT, NOT BECAUSE THEY NEED THEM.

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