Stories from the Clinic

Chapter 1: Experiences with School Children, page 3/5

While the work with the children is always interesting, we sometimes have a case so remarkable that it stands out from all the others.

Jim had imperfect sight and constant pain in the back of his eyes. He did not like to raise his head, because the light bothered him so much. Having tested hie sight, which was 15/70, I placed him in a chair and told him not to open his eyes, even for a moment. After I had attended to a few more patients, I came back and asked him to open his eyes. What happened seemed like a miracle. He didn't look like the same boy. His formerly half-shut eyes were wide open, and without any trouble he read the bottom line of the test card at fifteen feet. When I praised him for what he had done, he smiled and asked, "When shall I come again?" I gave him the sun treatment, and told him to sit In the sun with his eyes closed whenever he found time.

At the next visit he read 20/10 with both eyes, and he told me that the light did not trouble him any more. Later Jim brought a friend aged twelve, who had been wearing glasses for two years or more. When he came Into the room he did not wait for his turn, in his eagerness, but placed himself right hi front of me, took off his glasses, and said, "You cured Jimmle'a eyes. Will you cure me too?"

"Surely," I said, "If you wait your turn." As soon as I could I tested his sight and found that he could see just as well without his glasses as with them - 15/20. I told him to palm, and before he left the clinic that day, he saw distinctly some of the letters on the bottom line at fifteen feet. This was even more remarkable than Jimmie's case, for patients who have worn glasses are usually muqh harder to cure than those who have never worn them.

Sometimes the mothers come with the children, and then I always try to enlist them as my assistants. If they are wearing glasses, I try to persuade them to cure themselves, so that the children will not copy their bad visual habits, and will not be subjected to the influence of people who strain. Not long ago, a mother who had trouble with her eyes, brought her child for treatment, and agreed to help the latter at home. I said that would be fine, and then I asked the child to help me cure her mother.

"After mother has given you a treatment," I said, "tell her to close her eyes and cover them with the palms of her hands, and to stay so until she feels rested. Be very quiet so that she will not be disturbed, and when she opens her eyes, you will surely find that mother can see better."

Both made rapid progress. At the first visit the child's vision, which had been 15/50, improved to 15/30, and in six weeks it became 20/15. The mother now exhibits to her friends with much pride her ability to thread a needle without glasses.

Only one thing about this work with the children made me sad, namely, that we could do so little of it. Many children came from other districts, and were, of course, turned away by the dispensary clerk. But even if the hospital rules did not require him to do this, we could not have admitted all who came. There was a limit to the number we could treat, and there was so little space in our eye-room that we were obliged to treat the overflow in the outside general waiting room. I wish that teachers and nurses in the schools could be instructed in the very simple art of preserving the eyesight of the coming generation.

A kindergarten teacher requested me to help one of her little charges who was afflicted with squint. She informed me that the little one was very poor, so I advised the teacher to bring her to my clinic.

To become more acquainted with me, and the way in which cases were managed there, this teacher, at my invitation, visited the clinic. It Is interesting to note what she accomplished with her slight knowledge of our method.

She had a sunny disposition, and I could well Imagine a good mental picture of the children, as they greeted her every day in the classroom. She was devoted to her little pupils, and she was also a great lover of nature. She explained to her class, in her lovable way, just how the flowers grow, and made them understand what happens before the first shoots push their noses above the ground.

This teacher's name is Cecilia B. Eschbach, and the kindergarten is connected with the Brooklyn Orphan Asylum. Some time ago I received the following letter from her:

Dear Mrs. Lierman:

In spite of North Wind's biting breath, the little children of the kindergarten know that Spring is here. Their gardens give evidence of it, for the crocuses are up, the daffodils have twelve fat buds; the hyacinths and tulips, too, have grown to quite a size. To create a situation for conversation about awakening Spring, I placed eight empty flower pots in a paper bag. The one who opened the bag was called the gardener. He chose eight children, and gave them each the name of a flower, to go with the pots.

Every child was familiar with the following flowers, and could name and identify the real ones: crocus, tulip, dandelion, daffodil, hyacinth, Easter lily, pink sweet peas, rose. The little gardener decided to give away his flowers, but could not remember the name of the eighth one. I said, "Palm your eyes, William/' He did so, and in a moment said, "Pink sweet peas."

The children have learned to palm their eyes with good results. Two, who have casts in their eyes, play the swinging game and keep looking at the ceiling. Sometimes we sing, or sway to the rhythm of the piano. They are improving.

Hoping this report will be of interest to you, and thanking you for your kindness, I am

Very truly yours,
Cecilia B. Eschbach.

Jennie, aged ten years, will always be remembered by Or. Bates and myself. She was a very intelligent little girl for her age. She had the most to say of any child I knew. Most talkers do not impress you, they rather tire you, -- but not Jennie. Her left eye had caused her a great deal of suffering and pain for a long time, so she was ready to adopt any measure to be cured. Palming and blinking helped hen Her vision at the beginning was 10/10 in the right eye and 10/200 in the left.

After her first visit to us, she was ready to cure all those in school who had trouble with their eyes. On her second visit she told us of her experience with some of the teachers and pupils. At first she was punished for causing a disturbance in the classroom. Later, when her teacher saw her without glasses, reading her lessons from the blackboard with perfect ease, she began to ask questions.

The result was that Jennie was allowed to palm for a few minutes before each lesson and then the rest of the class followed suit. It was interesting to hear her describe the way she went about improving the sight of her teacher who wore glasses for reading. We could not find out how long the teacher had been wearing glasses, but Jennie said that after the treatment she was not seen wearing them again.

Jennie's vision improved steadily and she had no more pain, but even though she was cured she came to the clinic just the same. While I was ill and could not attend clinic for a few months, Jennie came In very handy. She was so small that she had to stand on a stool to reach the letters on the test card with her finger tips. Dr. Bates would ask her to point to the different letters he wanted other patients to see, which was a great help to the patients and to him as well.

One day a boy, sixteen years of age, appeared for an examination of his eyes. He was disagreeable, and sneered because he wanted to be anywhere but at the clinic. As the room was crowded with patientfi, Jennie took it upon herself to help. She singled out this lad and with a voice of authority said: "Now don't be afraid, little boy, the letters won't hurt you. Tell me how much you can see." At this remark the boy laughed as loud as he could and took it as a joke. She finally convinced him that she was serious, and before he left the clinic he had normal sight. The boy had myopia, and the vision in both eyes was 15/70. When he left the room his vision had improved to 15/10. He came a few times after that, but he had no more trouble in retaining normal sight.

Another day Jennie demonstrated her intelligence by treating a doctor who had come from the West to learn about the treatment. Of course she did not know she was talking to a doctor, for if she had, I fear she would have lost her nerve. The doctor stood where he could observe best the patient being treated. Jennie approached him gently, saying: "Now how do your eyes trouble you?" One can imagine the doctor smiling at the little girl desiring to do so much for a big man. Without returning the smile she walked to her stool, chin up in the air as though she were a princess, and as she pointed to a letter, asked the doctor if he could see it. The patients were amused, but Jennie was not in the leaat troubled. The doctor patient said no, he could not see the letter at which she was pointing, a letter of the 70 line. He stood 15 feet away from the card. She told him to palm, and he obeyed, in jest at first, but when he saw that the little girl was really trying to help him, he did as she told htm. The result was that the doctor's vision improved to 15/15. Jennie taught htm how to rest his eyes by palming and alternately closing and opening his eyes. This doctor now uses the Bates method in curing his patients of imperfect sight.

Another patient was Mary, a colored girl, twelve years old. She complained of such violent headaches that she could no longer attend school and stayed in bed most of the time. The school nurse had advised glasses, and she had come to get them. Mary kept her head lowered much of the time, but when I was about to treat her she tried to open one eye and look at me. The effort was so great that all the muscles of her face were contracted. As the light seemed to distress her, I decided to give her the sun treatment, that is, to focus the rays of the sun on the upper part of the eyeballs with a sun glass. I placed her on a stool where the sun could shine on her eyes, but when I tried to use the sun glass she was frightened to death. To reassure her I asked a patient, who had already had the treatment, to let m« repeat it on her. When Mary saw her enjoy the sun bath, she readily submitted to It herself. Afterward her eyes opened wide and I was able to test her sight. Her vision was 10/50, both eyes. I showed her how to palm, and when, after ten minutes, ih« opened her eyes, her pain was gone and her vision had improved to 10/20. I was quite proud to have accomplished so much in one treatment.

Two days later Mary came again, and with her came the school nurse and a friend, both eager to hear more of the miracle that had happened to Mary. Could it be possible, the nurse said, that the child had been cured as quickly as she said? I was surprised myself at the change in the patient's appearance. Her eyes were still wide open, and the constant grin on her face made her almost unrecognizable as the sad creature I had seen two days before. I told the nurse what had been done for the child and how she could help the other children in her school, by having them stand in the sun with their eyes closed, letting the sun shine on their closed eyelids for a few minutes every day. The nurse came a few times more to watch our methods, and told me that she was teaching all the children sent to her for examination of their eyes, how to palm. This always relieved them at once to some extent, she said. The more difficult cases, however, she sent to us without deity.

Another remarkable cure was that of a girl with nystagmus, a condition in which the eyes vibrate from side to side. Cases similar to hers come to us from time to time, and they are always benefited by palming. Her vision was 10/30. She improved quickly and soon obtained normal vision. When anything disturbed her, the vibration returned. This always happened, tht told me, when the teacher asked her a question. At the same time she lost her memory. The teacher allowed her to cover her eye« to rest them, and in a few minutes the vibration ceased and her memory improved. Before she came to the clinic she often became hysterical and was obliged to leave the class-room. Later the hysterical attacks disappeared.

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