PREFACE
Eyes speak all languages; wait for no letter
of introduction; they ask no leave of age or rank; they respect
neither poverty nor riches; neither learning nor power, nor virtue,
nor sex, but intrude and come again, and go through and through
you in a moment of time.—Emerson.
NEARLY twenty-five years have passed since my interest was
aroused in the problem of strengthening the eyes. It was the
result of an experience that came near to being tragical.
No one can adequately measure
the value of sight; but when we feel it failing we can in some
degree realize what that value is. Such was my case on the occasion
referred to. At the time I was assuming unusual responsibilities
in the editorial and business management of the PHYSICAL CULTURE MAGAZINE, the publication having recently leapt into a prominent
position, making the work extremely difficult. I had also undertaken
to write an important book, the correspondence I was receiving
having led me to see that there would be a large demand for the
information that I expected to include therein.
Before having done any work
on the book, except to divide the important phases of the subject
into chapters, I advertised it, thinking it could well be finished
and printed, ready for sale, at the time announced. My other
duties, however, were so exacting that I was unable to begin
writing when I expected to.
The demand for the work
was extraordinary; orders poured into the office at the rate
of two or three hundred a day, and further delay was out of the
question. No one could assume my particular duties in editing
and publishing the PHYSICAL CULTURE
MAGAZINE; and moreover,
at that time I had no assistant editors, or proofreaders, to
relieve me of details. Therefore, in order to get any time for
the book I was obliged to labor far into the night. By working
night and day, however, I was able to finish it in about thirty
days.
But the morning after the
last corrected proof had been returned to the printer, I was
appalled by the condition of my eyes. Vision was imperfect in
many ways, and on picking up a newspaper, the printed page appeared
like solid black.
I realized in a few seconds
the value of my eyesight, and I did some rapid and serious thinking.
I had no faith in oculists
and less in other doctors; the thought of consulting them did
not even occur to me. I knew that my eyes must have been affected
both locally and constitutionally, for not only had they been
subjected to extreme overwork, but this overwork had lowered
my general vitality. Whatever my business responsibilities might
be, I saw that a vacation was now necessary, and I accordingly
took it.
After returning to my duties
in about two weeks, my eyes were greatly improved, but their
condition was still far from satisfactory. I finally concluded
to take a fast of one week in order to cleanse thoroughly my
physical organism. This benefited my eyes tremendously. Thereafter
I began to experiment with various eye exercises together with
the eye bath, massage, etc., and my eyes soon acquired their
former vigor.
Oculists with whom I came
in contact during this period warned me of the dangers of adhering
to my views. Blindness, they said, would surely be my fate.
In recent years I have been
informed on numerous occasions that the eyes naturally begin
to deteriorate after forty years of age, and that total blindness
might result if I did not assist them with glasses. About ten
years ago (I am now in my fifty-fifth year), when I was treating
hundreds of patients at the Bernarr Macfadden Healthatorium in
Chicago, one of my patients, an oculist, was very emphatic in
his warnings as to the danger I was running by not wearing glasses,
and he finally induced me to promise him that I would try a pair
if he sent them to me after he returned home. The glasses arrived
in due time, but after wearing them for about ten minutes my
eyes pained me so severely that I had to discard them. No doubt
they were not adjusted to the condition of my eyes, but I did
not try to improve upon them. I have refrained from adopting
the "eye crutch" up to the present time, and I hope
that for many years to come I shall be able to avoid them. As
a result of the natural methods of treatment already explained,
my eyes are excellent and I work strenuously with both brain
and eyes regularly six days per week, and long, tedious days
at that.
When my book, "STRONG
EYES," was first
published, the principles presented therein were to a certain
extent new, but I was thoroughly convinced of their correctness
and thousands of readers have attested their value since the
first edition of the book was issued. More than fifty thousand
copies of the book have been sold, and in no instance have I
heard of an injury to the eyes because of the use of the methods
outlined therein; but, on the other hand, thousands have borne
witness to extraordinary benefit derived from them, while numbers
have been able to discard their glasses altogether as a result
of their use.
Consequently this book is
presented, not as a mere set of complex and untried theories,
but as an aggregation of definite and practical facts.
Some years ago I came in
contact with the work of a prominent eye specialist who is a
scientist of high standing in the field of ophthalmology and
a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia
University, New York. This physician began his studies in connection
with his revolutionary theories in 1886. It was in this year
that he cured his first case of myopia (near-sight). Encouraged
by this success, he treated many patients at the New York Eye
Infirmary with benefit, accomplishing some complete cures. While
he was at the New York Post Graduate, his success was such as
to bring about the loss of his position, the eye specialist in
charge there maintaining that such cures were impossible, and
this notwithstanding the fact that the proof was there for investigation.
In 1903 this physician discovered
that teachers could not only prevent the occurrence of myopia
among their pupils, but could cure it by the use of the "Snellen
test card." This was the first successful method for the
prevention of myopia and other cases of imperfect sight in school
children, and in itself is a discovery that will greatly benefit
humanity. (See New York Medical Journal, July 29, 1911.) In 1912
this method was introduced into some of the public schools of
the city of New York, the results being published in the New
York Medical Journal, August 30, 1913. The teachers cured one
thousand children of imperfect sight without the help of glasses.
During the last ten years,
this scientist has made many experiments on rabbits, fish, cats
and dogs for the purpose of gaining information about the action
of the external muscles of the eye. By this means he has been
able to bring to light many facts which are entirely opposite
to the theories about the eye published in text books at the
present time. These experiments, some details of which may be
found in the New York Medical Journal for May 8, 1915, together
with his untiring studies of the human eye, have further led
this physician to formulate a system of eye training by means
of which not only errors of refraction but almost every irregularity
of the eye can either be cured or materially benefited without
the help of glasses.
Directly opposed to the
methods and theories of orthodoxy, this system is not only revolutionary
in character, but far-reaching in its practical importance.
I feel sure that in adopting
the ideas of this eminent scientist I have been able not only
to stamp my own theories with the approval of up-to-date science,
but to present to the public a course of eye training which will
bear the most searching criticism.
It is scientific and practical,
and has been proven conclusively to be of inestimable value.
It should enable you to so strengthen your eyes that glasses
will not be needed later in life, while in many cases it will
enable you to discard the glasses which you may now be wearing;
it should also enable many to avoid the loss of a possession
priceless in value—the sense of sight.
This book is sent out in
the hope that it will be a boon to many who need the invaluable
information which it contains. That its methods sometimes require
considerable time and patience for their successful practice
should not lessen their value. The rewards which await those
who follow the instructions given will be beyond price.
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