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Stories from the Clinic

13: The Relief of Blindness

By Emily. C. Lierman

Clinic day is always a happy day for me. It is true one sees at the
hospital a great deal of suffering, sorrow and poverty; but it is a
pleasure to be able to relieve some of the suffering, and sometimes
things happen which are very amusing.

Some time ago a blind negro was led into the clinic by a friend. This
was a case which really ought to have been very sad, but it turned
out, instead, to be very amusing. In spite of his affliction the
patient seemed to be in a happy mood and very well pleased with
himself. He was neatly dressed and his shoes, though worn, were
carefully shined, while over them he wore spats. His cravat was a very
bright red, and his hat was a light shade of tan. A cane, which his
blindness compelled him to carry, completed a costume which I am sure
he considered to be that of a real swell gentleman. When I approached
him he said, in a very gracious manner:
  "Glad to see you, ma'am! Glad to see you, ma'am!"
And yet he could not see me, as I soon found out. I held my fingers
before his eyes and asked him if he could see them. He answered that
he could not. Further tests showed that he had no light perception
whatever, and Dr. Bates said that his condition was due to atrophy of
the optic nerve. I showed him how to palm, and after five minutes he
pointed to an electric light in the ceiling and said:
  "It looks light there."

I told him to palm again, and when he opened his eyes he saw the
shadow of my fingers moving from side to side before his face. In a
few moments, however, the blindness returned. Again I told him to
palm, and while he was doing so I asked him if he could remember
something black, or something that he had seen before he became blind,
such as a beautiful sunset, or white clouds. He thought a while, and
then remembered that in the days when he had been a house-painter he
had used black paint. I told him to remember the black paint while he
was palming, and then I left him to attend to other patients. When I
came back to him I held two of my fingers close to his face, and asked
him if he could see them.
  "Ma'am," he said, "I'm not at all sure, but I think I see two
fingers."
I think the man must have been quite popular with the ladies, for he
now remarked that one of his lady friends would be pleased if he could
see her. He came quite regularly for a time, and each time I noted
improvement in his vision. Sometimes this was not very marked, and
then I knew that he had not been palming very much at home. He was
greatly helped by the focusing of the sun's rays upon the white of his
eyes with a burning glass. This had a very soothing effect.

He was soon able to dispense with his guide, and, when leaving the
clinic, used to use his cane to obviate collisions with benches,
nurses and patients. One day as he was leaving the room Dr. Bates
called my attention to him, and I noted that instead of tapping with
his cane upon the floor he was carrying it on his arm. With head erect
he walked down the long corridor, opened the door and left the
hospital, with apparently no more difficulty than a person with
perfect sight. A little later he came without the cane. He became able
at last to read the fifty line at five feet with both eyes, and then
he stopped coming. Probably he thought he would be able to continue
the treatment by himself.

In the October (1920) number of "Better Eyesight" I wrote about
another case of blindness from atrophy of the optic nerve, the patient
having no light perception. Unlike the preceding patient she was very
much depressed by her condition, and begged me piteously to give her
back the light of day. She had heard of our clinic through some of the
patients, and had confidence that Dr. Bates or myself would give her
some relief. But I was very far from feeling this confidence.
Sometimes I am a doubting Thomas. I always try, however, not to reveal
this fact to the patients, but simply go ahead and do the best I can.
After this woman had palmed for ten minutes or longer, all the time
remembering black stove polish, she became able to see the 200 letter
a foot in front of her eyes. Since my previous article was written she
has become able to read the ten line at this distance. She is able to
go out to work during the day, and to work for herself at night, and
she says she sleeps better.

In the December (1920) number I told the story of a woman who had
absolute glaucoma of the right eye. This meant that she was stone
blind. She was also suffering terrible pain in this eye. I had to do a
great deal of coaxing to get her to palm, but I was willing to give
her more time than I do most of the patients, because her age was
seventy-nine. With the exception of one or two relapses she got on
nicely, and the last time I saw her she had half-normal vision for the
distance in the once blind eye and normal vision in the other. She had
learned how to keep her eyes at rest by palming and using her
imagination for flowers and other objects, and this relieved the
strain which had been the cause of all the trouble.

We have had many cases of total blindness at the clinic, most of them
due to glaucoma and atrophy of the optic nerve, a few to detachment of
the retina and irido-cyclitis, and all have gained at least perception
of light, while many have been more materially benefited. But most of
them did not come more than a few times. It is unfortunate that the
blind, as a rule, consider their condition so hopeless that it is
difficult to convince them that any treatment is worth while, even
after they have received some benefit from it.
____

Snellen Test Cards

There should be a Snellen test card in every family and in every
school classroom. When properly used it always improves the sight even
when it is already normal. Children or adults with errors of
refraction, if they have never worn glasses, are cured simply by
reading every day the smallest letters they can see at a distance of
ten, fifteen, or twenty feet.
  For Sale By
  The Central Fixation Publishing Company
  Paper—50 Cents
  Cardboard (folding)—75 Cents
  Delivered
A limited number of reprints of articles by Dr. Bates published in
other medical journals also for sale. Send for list. Also back numbers
of "Better Eyesight". First twelve numbers, $3.00; bound in cloth,
$1.25 extra; single copies, 30 cents.
____

Blindness Number
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 Co.
$2.00 per year, 20 cents per copy
300 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Vol. IV - March 1921 - No. 3
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