A MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE PREVENTION AND CURE OF IMPERFECT SIGHT WITHOUT GLASSES

SEPTEMBER, 1927

Demonstrate

(Sunning and use of the Sunglass)

1 - That sun treatment is an immediate benefit to many diseases of the eye.
Before the treatment, take a record of your best vision of the Snellen test card with both eyes together and each eye separately without glasses. Then sit in the sun with your eyes closed, slowly moving your head a short distance from side to side, and allowing the sun to shine directly on your closed eyelids. Forget about your eyes; just think of something pleasant and let your mind drift from one pleasant thought to another. Before opening your eyes, palm for a few minutes. Then test your vision of the test card and note the improvement. Get as much sun treatment as you possibly can, one, two, three or more hours daily.
When the sun is not shining, substitute a strong electric light. A I,000 watt electric light is preferable, but requires special wiring. However, a 250 watt or 300 watt light can be used with benefit, and does not require special wiring. Sit about six inches from the light, or as near as you can without discomfort from the heat, allowing it to shine on your closed eyelids as in the sun treatment.

2 - That the strong light of the sun focused on the sclera, or white part of the eyeball, with the sun glass, also improves the vision.
After the eyes have become accustomed to the sunlight with the eyes closed, focus the light of the sun on the closed eyelids with the sun glass. Move the glass rapidly from side to side while doing this for a few minutes. Then have the patient open his eyes and look as far down as possible, and in this way, the pupil is protected by the lower lid. Gently lift the upper lid so that only the white part of the eye is exposed, as the sun’s rays fall directly upon this part of the eyeball. The sun glass may now be used on the white part of the eye for a few seconds, moving it quickly from side to side and in various directions. Notice that after the use of the sun glass, the vision is improved.

Blindness

By W. H. Bates, M.D.

When the normal eye has normal sight, it is constantly moving. When it has imperfect sight or is partially or completely blind, it is always seeing stationary objects or letters stationary, or is making an effort to do so. These two truths suggest the prevention or cure of blindness.
When adults, school children and others are taught to imagine stationary objects to be always moving, the vision always improves.*
To do the wrong thing, namely, to imagine or try to imagine all objects stationary, very soon becomes associated with an effort or strain. Why is it a strain to have imperfect sight? Because it is impossible for the eyes or mind to concentrate. To regard a point continuously is difficult or impossible. Trying to do it, is trying to do the impossible; and trying to do the impossible is a strain.
All cases of imperfect sight or blindness are caused by a strain. When the strain is relieved or corrected by closing the eyes and resting them, the vision always improves.
It can be demonstrated that blindness from conical cornea, ulceration and inflammation of the cornea can, in all cases, be made worse by straining or making an effort to see. This is a truth, and, therefore, has no exceptions.

(Stationary objects appear to move when the eyes move, shift. - Oppositional movement.)
+Stare at a object – Do not shift on it – The object does not move, no oppositional movement is seen – Strain and blur results.
+Look at the object – Shift on the object part to part – The object appears to move in the opposite direction the eyes shift to: Oppositional Movement– Relaxation and clear vision.

GLAUCOMA is a serious disease of the eyes. In most cases, the eyeball becomes hard and this hardness can be felt by pressing lightly on the closed eyelid with the fingers. For the relief of this hardness, various operations have been performed to promote the escape of the fluids of the eyes. These operations have not always been satisfactory. Many cases of glaucoma have been relieved for a limited period of time, but sooner or later, become totally blind. When blindness occurs, operations have usually failed to restore the sight.

CAUSE. (and symptoms) The theory that the disease is caused by a hardening of the eyeball is incorrect, because we find cases of glaucoma in which the eyeball is not increased in hardness, and there are cases of hardening of the eyeball in which there is no glaucoma. The normal eye may be hardened temporarily by conscious eyestrain. The cause of glaucoma, in all cases, is eyestrain, and may be demonstrated as follows: When the normal eye has normal sight, it is not under a strain. When a letter or an object is remembered or imagined imperfectly, the eyeball at once becomes hard. Other symptoms of glaucoma may also be observed, namely, one may see rainbow colors around the flame of a lighted candle. Another symptom is the pulsation of one or more of the retinal arteries. In most cases, severe pain has been observed.
Patients with glaucoma usually suffer not only in ways already mentioned, but also from other symptoms just as severe and more difficult to describe. Glaucoma affects the nervous system and produces not only extreme depression but disturbances in all the nerves and organs of the body.

TREATMENT. When a person is suffering from glaucoma, the memory of perfect sight produces complete relaxation with a temporary cure of the glaucoma.
Too many cases of absolute glaucoma, totally blind with no perception of light, suffering an agony of pain with great tension or hardness of the eyeball, have been enucleated. Acute, absolute glaucoma may have no manifest organic changes in the eyes.
When the eyestrain is relieved by palming, swinging and the use of a perfect memory or imagination, these cases have always obtained temporary relief at once and a permanent relief by the continuation of the relaxation treatment.

Cataract

In CATARACT, the pupil instead of being black becomes a light gray or some other color, due to the opacity of the focusing lens of the eye, which is just behind the colored part of the eye, the iris. Rays of light which enter the eye pass through this lens and are focused on the back part of the eye, the retina. When the lens becomes opaque, the rays of light from different objects do not pass through the lens and the vision is consequently lowered and the patient becomes more or less blind. If one places six sheets of glass, one on top of the other, so that all are parallel, it is possible to see through them. If, however, one or more of the glasses form an angle or is not parallel with the rest, the layers of glass become cloudy, just like the layers which form the crystalline lens in cataract.

CAUSE. Cataract has been observed for many thousands of years by the people of India, Egypt, and in various countries of Europe. The theories of the cause of cataract are very numerous. The lens is composed of transparent layers. When these layers are squeezed or when the eyeball is squeezed, the layers which form the lens become cloudy or opaque. It is a very simple experiment to take the eye of some animal which has just been slaughtered and to hold it with the tips of the fingers of one hand. By pressing the eyeball, the lens at once becomes cloudy and a white mass, which can be seen twenty feet or further, usually appears in the pupil. With the cloudiness of the lens, there may occur at the same time, a cloudiness in the front part of the eye, the cornea. Just as soon as the pressure is removed from the eyeball, the area of the pupil becomes perfectly clear and the lens becomes perfectly transparent. It is such an easy thing to try and is so convincing that I wish that more ophthalmologists would study it.
Pressure of the eyeball may come from the contraction of the muscles on the outside of the eye, which are quite capable of keeping up a continuous pressure for many years, without the patient being conscious of it.
Cataract has been produced in normal eyes by the memory or the imagination of imperfect sight. The memory of imperfect sight produces a strain of the outside muscles of the eyeball, which is accompanied by a contraction of these muscles, and cataract is produced.
Almost any kind of opacity of the lens has been produced by pressure. The area of the pupil may become varicolored, due to the difference in pressure. The strain of the eye or mind which produces cataract is a different kind of strain than that which produces glaucoma. Every symptom of eye trouble is caused by a separate strain. The strain which produces near-sightedness is a different kind of strain than that which produces astigmatism or inflammation of the cornea or inflammation of the colored part of the eye, the iris. The strain which produces pain is not the same strain which produces squint. One may practice the strain which produces squint continuously without necessarily producing pain. The stain which produces cataract does not produce pain. Cataract is a disease of the eye which is never accompanied by pain unless the patient with cataract also strains in a way which produces pain. The strain which produces cataract never produces pain.

TREATMENT. Palming, swinging, sun treatment, and other methods of relaxation treatment*1 cures cataract because it relieves eyestrain which is the cause of cataract.
September 1927

*1- Described in the book “Perfect Sight Without Glasses,” by W.H. Bates, M. D., and previous issues of “Better Eyesight” Magazine.

Conical Cornea

In CONICAL CORNEA, the front part of the eye bulges forward and forms a cone-shaped body. The apex of the cone usually becomes the seat of an ulcer and sooner or later, the vision becomes very much impaired. In advanced cases, the patient suffers very much from pain. Various operations have been performed, but the results have always been unsatisfactory.

CAUSE. The cause of conical cornea is eyestrain. The fact has been demonstrated that those measures which cure eyestrain; palming, swinging, the variable swing, as described in paragraph 7 of the Fundamental card, and the use of the memory and imagination,—are a benefit or a cure of conical cornea.

Opacity Of The Cornea

The cornea, when healthy, is perfectly transparent and does not interfere with the vision of the colored part of the eye, or pupil, but when the cornea becomes opaque, the opacity may be so dense that the color of the iris cannot be distinguished, and there is no perception of light.
Cause. Opacities of the cornea are said to be caused by infections, ulcers or some general disease, but there are many cases which are caused by eyestrain, because when the eyestrain is relieved by relaxation treatment the opacity of the cornea always improves and the vision becomes normal.

Blindness Cured
Treatment. One patient, forty years of age, had been blind from birth. The corneas of both eyes were totally opaque, so that it was impossible to see the color of the iris. The patient was helpless on the street and required someone to lead him. Central fixation, the use of his memory and imagination, and other methods for the relief of eyestrain were practiced. The Sun treatment was especially beneficial. The patient was taught to expose his closed eyelids to the sun for many hours daily.
At the end of a few months’ treatment, he became able to recognize people on the street. He was taught the alphabet and the names of the figures. When his knowledge of the letters became perfect, he was able to read the Snellen test card, 20/20. He was also able to read fine print without glasses. After thirty-five years, his friends reported that his eyes were still normal.

Another case was that of a woman, aged seventy-five, who had to be led into the office. She had suffered from inflammation of the cornea of both eyes for many years, and had frequent attacks of ulcers. From time to time, these ulcers would heal, but they always left a scar.
When the patient was first seen, a scar tissue involved the whole cornea, so that one could not distinguish the colored part of the eye. I believe that eyestrain was the only cause of the trouble, because the sun treatment, palming and swinging, brought about an improvement so that the cornea became perfectly clear, and the vision of the patient for distant and near objects was normal.

The Blindness Of Squint Or Amblyopia Ex Anopsia

In cases of SQUINT, the vision of the eye which turns either in or out is variable. In many cases, the squinting eye may have normal vision, but in the majority of cases, the vision may be very much lowered, and in rare cases, the squinting eye may be totally blind with no perception of light.

CAUSE. There have been many theories proposed to account for the blindness of squint. I have found, however, that the cause of the blindness is due to eyestrain.

TREATMENT. The vision of these cases is benefited by relaxation methods - palming, swinging and the use of the memory or the imagination. A letter may be imagined perfectly or imperfectly. When imagined imperfectly, the vision is always lowered. When imagined perfectly, with the eyes open as well as with the eyes closed, the vision is always improved. By remembering or imagining a letter, with the eyes closed for half a minute or longer, one becomes able to imagine a letter quite perfectly with the eyes open for a few seconds. Repeat.

CASE HISTORY. In one case, a woman, about thirty years of age, was totally blind in the right eye which turned in, although the eye itself was apparently normal. That is to say, there were no opacities in any part of the eye, and the retina and optic nerve were normal.
With both eyes open, the vision was 15/20. By practice, with the aid of her memory and imagination, the vision, with both eyes, soon became normal without glasses, 15/10. Coincident with the improvement of the vision of both eyes together, which meant an improvement in the vision of the left eye, the patient gradually became able to distinguish light in the right or blind eye. In less than two weeks, after daily treatment, the vision of the right eye became normal and the eyes straight.
It seems curious that so many articles have been published on amblyopia (dim-sightedness) ex-anopsia (from lack of education or use of eye) without going further and studying the results of the opposite of ex- anopsia, - relaxation methods of treatment.

Blindness

By Emily C. Lierman

On March 19, 1927, a woman came to me who was affected with temporary blindness. She was not with me longer than five minutes when I noticed that she was under an intense mental and nervous strain. When I spoke to her, tears welled up in her eyes. Every part of her body was tense and the white parts of her eyes, i.e., the sclera, were blood-shot and she had no desire to keep them open in a natural way.
She told me that she had had trouble with her eyes as long as she could remember. Blocks of blind spots were visible before her eyes at all times; blindness caused by strain. She said she always kept her glasses near her bed so that she could put them on first thing in the morning.
Her sight was better at night than in the daytime. The daylight caused her a great deal of discomfort and pain and most of the time she had a desire to keep her eyelids lowered. When she was wearing her glasses, she felt more depressed than when not wearing them. Her eyes itched and she had rubbed her eyelids until they had become soar. This caused her to be more nervous than ever. Long periods of daily sun treatment finally cured the itching of her eyelids.
When I tested her sight with the test card, her right vision was 15/20 but she strained very hard to see the letters, which gave her eyes the appearance of being closed. The vision of the left eye was 15/50 and it caused her pain when she read with it. I encouraged her to palm and while her eyes were closed, I asked her to talk about her loved ones at home. As she told me of some of their habits and how she loved them I noticed her smile for the first time.
She was taught to stand with her feet one foot apart and sway her body from left to right; flashing the test card letters one at a time. I reminded her many times to blink her eyes in order to stop the stare, for she stared a great deal. When she finally learned how to blink while swaying, her vision improved to 15/15 with each eye separately.
I then had her sit in a chair with her back to the sunlight and gave her the Fundamental card to hold. I asked her what she could read on it. She said she could not read any of the print at all on the card. I told her to shift from the white spaces of the microscopic type, to the white spaces between the lines of the “Seven Truths of Normal Sight,” which she held with the Fundamental card; flashing only the white spaces and avoiding the reading of print. This practice was kept up for almost a half-hour and I then suggested that she notice the numbers at the beginning of each sentence of the Fundamental card. Her attention was drawn to the period next to each number. She was told to notice the white spaces of the different sized type as she held it in her hand. (Then look at the period, then the letters). Before her first treatment was over, she read the sentences from number one to number five.
At the beginning of her second treatment she said that the food placed before her at the table was beginning to look like food to her before she ate it. Before, she never knew what she was eating until she tasted it.
Sun treatment was kept up regularly every day. This improved her vision for the test card and fine print to normal. I handed her a newspaper and pointed to the smallest type that I could find on the front page. The smallest print was about the size of diamond type. She read this clearly for the first time in her life. During her second treatment, when she held the card in the sunlight, her vision improved for the Fundamentals card to number eight.
After several treatments she told me that her friends were noticing how much younger she looked. The sclera of both eyes was clearing up and she was smiling most of the time. She became able to read all of the Fundamental card at reading distance, ten or twelve inches from her eyes and sometimes closer. The blind spots and black spots that had appeared before her eyes for many years, also disappeared. She was told to remain in the sun for hours at a time, keeping her eyes closed while her head moved slowly from side to side. The sway of the body was advised and she did this a hundred times in the morning and a hundred times at night before retiring.
She told me how much better she slept at night since having had her first treatment. She said it had been many years since she had had a restful night’s sleep. She enjoys walking fast on the street now, noticing stationary objects moving in the opposite direction as she walks. She reads numbers in the telephone book and other print that was not clear before. Since she has been cured, she is helping others and writes about her eyes continuing to be a blessing to her. This patient has proved again that faithful practice and patience brings about the much desired result,—normal vision.
She describes her own case in the following way: “Before I was treated by Ms. Lierman for the improvement of my sight, an American flag a short distance away looked to me like a dark piece of cloth hanging from a pole. Now I can clearly distinguish the colors; the red, the white, the blue, and I believe I could count each star if the flag would stay still long enough.
“For many years the first thing I would do on awakening in the morning would be to look for my eyeglasses. I could not see or find anything without them. At the dinner table, I could not see a small fishbone on my plate, in a poorly lighted room, much less other things that the normal eye sees without any effort. Now I can see the tiny crumbs, even though they may be as white as the color of my table cloth.
Along the street, whether I was walking or riding, I could not read signs as the normal eye does. After my second treatment all signs along the street and shop windows were easily seen by me. Before I started treatment, I could not see any objects moving at all. They all seemed to stand still. Now I can see all objects moving, that are moving, and since I have learned how relaxing the sway of the body is, I can imagine stationary objects are moving as I sway. If I carried an umbrella or a purse on my arm, I would hold so tightly to these things that the effort caused pain in my hands and arms before I realized it. Now my arms and hands feel relaxed and I carry packages, an umbrella and other things without causing strain or effort. Things now come easily to me. Perhaps others who are troubled in this way would be glad to know how I was cured of this particular strain and tension caused by holding on tightly to things unnecessarily.
“Mrs. Lierman taught me how to place the palm of one hand gently, easily on the palm of the other hand. At first I did not do it gently enough for her and we practiced it together. My strain was so great, which she realized too, that I was willing to follow her in any suggestion that she made for my comfort and relief from strain. This helped me so much that I began to uncross my knees for more relaxation and rest. This helps more than one realizes and now since I know it does, I notice that nine out of ten people are under a tension most of the time because their knees are crossed. For years I have been under constant strain and tension, which caused greater depression than anything else. Since I have taken the treatment and followed Ms. Leirman’s suggestions for home treatment, I no longer feel depressed.
“After my second treatment, I could thread a needle and I was not particular either as to the size of the eye of the needle. I believe this is worth reporting because for many years I had to have my glasses handy to thread a needle whether the eye was large or small; it made no difference.
“Since I was treated, a friend of mine drew my attention to something away off in the sky. She pointed to this object and said, “look at that balloon in the distance!” I looked and said, “No, it is a kite, I can see the tail clearly.” The kite became visible to my friend and she remarked how much better my eyes were since I had discarded glasses. I have much cause to be grateful for my renewed vision!”

Questions And Answers

Q - Is memory and imagination the same? When we remember an object, do we have to visualize it?
A - The memory and imagination are not the same. It is best when you remember an object to visualize it with the help of the imagination, but it is not always necessary to visualize it. (The brain will automatically produce a mental picture of the object.)

Q - When I try to imagine a black period, it blurs and I get all colors but black.
A - When you fail to imagine a black period, it means that you are making an effort to see black. It may help you to think of a black football that has been thrown into the ocean and is being carried further and further from shore. As it recedes in the distance, it becomes smaller and smaller until it seems only a small black speck or period.

Q - Why is it a rest to read fine print? I should think it would be a strain.
A - Fine print can be read perfectly only when the eyes are relaxed. If any effort is made, the print immediately blurs. It is, therefore, evident that the more fine print you are able to read, the more continuously relaxed your eyes and mind are.

(Fine print activates perfect central fixation, and improves close and distant vision.)
See oppositional movement chapter 17 in the book: Do It Yourself – Natural Eyesight Improvement – Original and Modern Bates Method.
100% Free view on GoogleBooks.

Q - I am following your method for squint. While riding in an automobile or train, is it necessary for me to palm?
A - No. It is beneficial to observe the universal swing, that is, looking in the distance and noticing that everything on the horizon, the clouds, treetops, etc., seem to move in the same direction in which you are moving. Without looking directly at near objects, you are conscious of the fact that they seem to be moving past in the opposite direction. Remember to blink frequently, as the normal eye does.

Perfect Sight

If you learn the fundamental principles of perfect sight and will consciously keep them in mind your defective vision will disappear. The following discoveries were made by W. H. Bates, M. D., and his method is based on them. With it he has cured so-called incurable cases:

I. Many blind people are curable.

II. All errors of refraction are functional, therefore curable.

III. All defective vision is due to strain in some form.

You can demonstrate to your own satisfaction that strain lowers the vision. When you stare, you strain. Look fixedly at one object for five seconds or longer. What happens? The object blurs and finally disappears. Also, your eyes are made uncomfortable by this experiment. When you rest your eyes for a few moments the vision is improved and the discomfort relieved.

IV. Strain is relieved by relaxation.

To use your eyes correctly all day long, it is necessary that you:

1. Blink frequently. Staring is a strain and always lowers the vision.

2. Shift your glance constantly from one point to another, seeing the part regarded best and other parts not so clearly.
That is, when you look at a chair, do not try to see the whole object at once; look first at the back of it, seeing that part best and other
parts worse. Remember to blink as you quickly shift your glance from the back to the seat and legs, seeing each part best, in turn. This is
central fixation.

3. Your head and eyes are moving all day long. Imagine that stationary objects are moving in the direction opposite to the movement of your head and eyes. When you walk about the room or on the street, notice that the floor or pavement seems to come toward you, while objects on either side appear to move in the direction opposite to the movement of your body. (Oppositional Movement)

Announcement

 The new edition of “Perfect Sight Without Glasses,” by W. H. Bates is now on sale at this address and all leading book stores.
Those who were unable to procure the book while our stock was exhausted will receive prompt delivery.
Bound in green leather and embossed in gold. $3.00 prepaid.

We wish to call to the attention of our readers, the Bound Volume of the "Better Eyesight Magazine'' from July, 1926, to June, 1927. This contains articles written by W. H. Bates, M.D., on his discoveries, relative to the cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses.
Each month, he discusses in detail the causes and treatment of various phases of imperfect sight. Instructions and suggestions for home treatment are also given.
Another article, demonstrating the various truths of Dr. Bates' discoveries, proves most beneficial in this treatment.
There is also a Question and Answer column in which questions submitted by subscribers and interested readers are answered by Dr. Bates.
We have only one hundred copies and advise all those who wish to keep the book as reference to send in an early order.
Bound in green leather and embossed in gold.
$3.00 prepaid.