MYOPIA

(Be sure to remove the glasses before trying any of these drills)
What near-sighted people must learn in order to see, objects in the distance without glasses:

1. First the near-sighted eye must learn to think in terms of shape, for that is the way the normal eyes sees by comparison. Analyse everything you do see as to whether it is large or small, straight or curved, tall or short, thick or thin, wide or narrow. Eyes used to seeing things beyond ten feet as blobs of blur have the habit of ignoring contours, that is, the sharp edges where the light-shears off from the object. They never think to analyse shape, thus aiding the mind in its task of piecing, together the meaning.

2. A good drill is to print the capital letters of the alphabet with your pointer finger in your palm, eyes closed, and tell yourself the general contour of each letter. "A" is an angle, "B", "C", and "D" are curves, "E" is square, "Y' tall, etc. You will be surprised how interesting the letters can become Get into the habit of working visually all over an object for fine points, for detail. Many near-sighted persons remark, "Yes, now that you call my attention to that item I can see it very well, but I didn't notice it before." The reason the eyes "didn't notice it" was because they had not moved all over the object, had not shifted. They fastened on its entirety as a big spot and tried to absorb it as a whole, blot it up, so to speak. Neither eyes nor minds can work that way; they must travel in very rapid succession over every bit of the object, seeing each portion of it at a separate fraction of a second until no portion of it has been missed. In other words, teach the eye, to shift. A good drill for this is to count series of things very rapidly. Do not try for accuracy; just pretend to count. You will find that the eye skips fewer and fewer of any series as you practise from day to day. Things to count? Scallops in a pattern, repetitions in a design, flowers across the wallpaper, lines in grained or striped material, books on library shelves, windows in a passing train or tram, heads before you in an audience, blackbirds on the telegraph wires. If remembering faces, is your problem, the, chances are you never really saw the face. Teach each your attention to travel all over the features from eye to eye brow to brow, nose to mouth to chin and back to the eyes. Compare the eyes for size and expression. Note the balance or unevenness of brows and ears. Study the nose, mouth and chin. See if both sides of the face are the same. You will find fascinating details as you explore what is thus revealed. Once you have seen all of the face, you can remember it. Straining eyes try to blot it up in one stare. They fix on one part. Of course they cannot recall the rest.

3. 3. Teach the mind to be interested in distance and things at a distance. Short-sighted eyes feel so thwarted by objects afar that they do not risk defeat by venturing a look. For this reason, their world draws in about them, closer and closer, until they never even think to. look away at what might be seen. Even glasses do not correct this mental habit. The eye must constantly be seeking vision, intensifying the desire to know the answer to the question, "What is it?"

4. 4. Teach the eyes to study the difference in appearance of the same object at the close point and at a distance; that is, to recognise how perspective changes things. The following are. drills to interest the eyes in distance.