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Title: Spectacle secrets
Author: George Cox
Release date: February 19, 2025 [eBook #75415]
Language: English
Original publication: London: George Cox, 1844
Credits: Bob Taylor, deaurider and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SPECTACLE SECRETS ***
Transcriber’s Note
Italic text displayed as: _italic_
SPECTACLE
SECRETS.
BY GEORGE COX.
SECOND EDITION.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR, 128, HOLBORN HILL;
AND SOLD BY
COX, 100, NEWGATE STREET;
HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO., PATERNOSTER ROW;
COX, 5, BARBICAN;
AND BY ALL BOOKSELLERS AND OPTICIANS.
1844.
BASINGSTOKE:—PRINTED BY ROBERT COTTLE.
[Illustration: No. 1.]
[Illustration: No. 2.]
[Illustration: No. 3.
_Anti Pressure_
_Solid_
_Blue Steel._]
[Illustration: No. 4.]
[Illustration: No. 5.]
[Illustration: No. 6.]
[Illustration: No. 7.]
[Illustration: No. 8.]
PREFACE.
Every effort of human ingenuity professing to remove or lessen pain
and inconvenience, is, naturally enough, hailed with approbation, and
the public require not so much to be aroused to estimate fully the
advantages proposed, as to be guarded against implicit belief and
heedless confidence in the value and importance of the remedy. It
is, however, of the utmost importance to be accurately informed what
kind of benefit we may fairly expect from the use of the given means,
and to what extent this benefit may be obtained; and yet the man who
steps forward to state this plainly and fairly, too often fails of
the success which his undertaking deserves. Experience proves that
such endeavours have been contemned by some, looked upon with cold
indifference by others, and viewed with suspicion by nearly all. We
are too apt to suspect interested motives, to doubt the sincerity, and
undervalue the abilities of men, who have devoted their lives, and the
force of their talents, to a particular pursuit; and then, as though
this cunning incredulity was closely allied to implicit credence in the
wildest chimeras, we become ready listeners, and passive victims, to
pompous and plausible charlatans, who make the largest promises, alike
indifferent to the practicability or usefulness of their specifics.
“It is a great mistake,” said an able English statesman of the last
century, “to suppose men harmless because they are blockheads; the
dunce thinks neither of country nor of consequences in the pursuit of
his petty interests and passions, which may, and often do, lead him to
work the greatest public calamities.”
I have refrained from advancing any crude theoretical opinions, which
might fairly be questioned. The information conveyed in these pages is
of a practical character; has stood the purifying test of time; and,
being based upon the immutable principles of optical science, courts
every enquiry and challenges all investigation.
My object has been to provide the public with a compendium of sound and
standard information on this most interesting and essential subject, in
order that, possessing themselves of the truth, and becoming conversant
with the real merits of the question, they may no longer be the victims
of ignorant, designing, and knavish speculators, who so mercilessly
practise on their credulity. I have freely availed myself of facts and
observations with which I have become familiar in the course of my own
experience and connexion with an establishment of more than one hundred
years’ standing, and, at the same time, have endeavoured to condense in
one publication the essence of many voluminous treatises.
“It is only by condensing, simplifying, and arranging in the most lucid
manner possible, the acquired knowledge of past generations, that those
to come can be enabled to avail themselves to the full of the advanced
point from which they will start.”
I have only to add, that though I would not desire to offend the
critical acumen of any of my readers, yet, having but little leisure,
and those moments of rest being snatched from the busy whirl of
commercial pursuits, I have been much more anxious to give solid
information in language universally understood, and divested of
technicalities, than to employ nice set terms, chosen to please the
critic’s curious ear.
GEORGE COX.
The first edition of this work having found a ready sale, spite of
all the opposition and abuse lavished against it by the itinerant
_opticians_, I have reprinted it with such improvements as the kindness
of friends and my own experience have suggested.
128, HOLBORN HILL, LONDON,
_January, 1844_.
Reviewers’ Opinions of this Work.
“The information which this little book contains is really very good
and very applicable to the instruction both of the short-sighted, who
never reflect before they buy, and of the very long-sighted, who, from
excess of cunning in the search of great bargains, are, like our friend
Moses in the Vicar of Wakefield, open to very _gross_ impositions in
the matter of spectacles and their very _chagrin_ cases. Those who are
not opticians or oculists will do well to read the book before they
commit themselves in the purchase of glasses either from itinerant or
stationary quacks. But this is not all: though a simple monograph of
the frauds of one trade, the book may be generalized into “a manual
of the whole art of puffing,” and an exposure of the silly credulity
of the public in all its branches. Mr. Cox also discloses some of the
machinery of newspaper puffing in a way which almost tempts us to
claim it as “our thunder,” it is so much in unison with our published
opinions on the subject.”
_Athenæum._
“In this well-written work Mr. Cox has given a popular description of
the eye, and the adaptation of spectacles to correct constitutional
defects or organic disease: by attention to a few simple rules which he
lays down, any one may effectually fortify himself against the artful
representations of dishonest dealers in spectacles “made to sell.” The
public is indebted to Mr. Cox for having exposed the tricks of the
insidious marauders in several towns in which they were practising
their impositions, and his tract contains some correspondence between
him and several eminent surgeons, from which it appears that they had
been represented as vouching for pretended improvements in spectacles,
of which they either knew nothing at all, or with regard to which they
themselves had been deceived by the fraudulent pretenders.”
_Christian Advocate._
“This is a useful little work, treating on a subject of universal
importance—namely, defining the laws by which deficiency of sight can
be assisted, founded on scientific principles, and aided by extensive
observation in a long practice; we would recommend a perusal of
the pamphlet to such as are about to seek the aid of the maker of
spectacles.”
_Morning Advertiser._
“This little _brochure_ is correct, ingenious, and useful: moreover,
it is valuable as exposing the gross ignorance, impostures, and frauds
of Jews, pedlars, and other locomotive quacks. The humbug of _amber_
spectacles, _coloured_ pebbles, clarified crystals, &c., is here
thoroughly exploded. Altogether the information in this pamphlet is
well deserving of attention.”
_Aldine Magazine._
“An amusing exposure of the puffing and swindling systems pursued by
some self-styled opticians, from which besides may be gathered a good
deal of sound, practical information.”
_Era._
“If every body’s sight were impaired, we should strongly hope that this
little treatise would become universally known; but as we have reason
to believe there are some people in the world who can see a little, we
shall only address ourselves to the former, to whom we can confidently
recommend the perusal of this talented work. Besides a great deal of
necessary and sound information on the use and nature of spectacles, we
find a number of _exposés_ of the tricks pursued by many unprincipled
persons styling themselves opticians, which is put forth by the author
in a very distinct manner.”
_Blackwood’s Lady’s Magazine._
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Page.
Invention of Spectacles and Burning Glasses 1
Examination of Opticians—Artful Impositions 2
Duke of Wellington and the Bubble Schemes 4
Basis of Optical Knowledge—Physiology of the Eyes 6
CHAPTER II.
Failure of Sight and the Application of Spectacles 10
Lenses—how to determine their Focal Lengths 12
Brazil Pebbles—Periscopic and Parallel Lenses—Process of 13
Working—Tests of Quality—and Experiment 14
Railroad Spectacles—Neutral Tint Shades 16
Country-made Spectacles—Trial Box of Sight 18
CHAPTER III.
A Visit to the Optician—Rules for selecting Spectacles 21
Spectacle Frames—Russian Remedy for Short Sight 24
Solid Blue Steel Spectacles 26
Anti-pressure Spectacles—Single Eye Glasses injurious 27
Prices of Spectacles 28
CHAPTER IV.
Specious Quackery—Testimonial Writers 30
Amber Spectacles analysed—Puffing Advertisement 33
Opinions of Dr. Neill Arnott, Dollond, Curtis, &c. 34
Absurdity and Ignorance of Puffing Advertisers, 36
CHAPTER V.
Instances of Gross Imposition—Clarified Crystals and
Coloured Pebbles! 37
Naval and Military Officers—Definition of LAW 39
Ladies and Spectacles—Persevering Roguery 41
An Old Clothes Man Metamorphosed 43
CHAPTER VI.
Specimens of Puffing Advertisements, 44
Royal Patronage—Cataract Alarmists 45
Abstract of Act of Parliament 46
Newspaper Paragraphs, 50
CHAPTER VII.
Provincial and Metropolitan Scheming 52
Public Cautions—Tricks at Brighton 56
Liverpool Mercury—Parabolic Cheats 60
CHAPTER VIII.
Correspondence with the Duke of Wellington 61
—— Frederick Tyrell, Esq. J. Hodson, Esq. 62
Signatures of J. Soden, Esq., J. F. Ledsam, Esq.,
—— Alexander, Esq. 64
Correspondence with Robert Keate, Esq. 64
Pretended Discoveries, Humorous Scraps, &c. 66
SPECTACLE SECRETS.
CHAPTER I.
“Science should be stripped of every thing that tends to clothe it
in a strange and repulsive garb, and especially every thing that, to
keep up an appearance of superiority in its professors over the rest
of mankind, assumes an unnecessary guise of profundity and obscurity,
should be sacrificed without mercy.”—SIR I. F. W. HERSCHEL.
Spectacles and side-saddles, we are quaintly informed, became common
in England in the reign of Richard the Second. The ancients, however,
knew the power of burning-glasses, and one cunning rogue, we are told,
discovered a new way to pay old debts, by means of a round stone
or glass used in lighting of fires, with which he melted the bond,
written, as usual in those days, on wax. Their burning glasses were
spheres, either solid or full of water, their foci were consequently
very short and confused. A long interval occurred before spectacles
were constructed, and three hundred years elapsed between the invention
of spectacles and telescopes.
Our eyes should have our nicest and most tender care, since it is by
them we are familiarized with objects of the most exquisite interest
and beauty, abounding on the earth we inhabit, and in the starry
firmament above us:—
“My soul, while Nature’s beauties feast mine eyes,
To Nature’s God contemplative shall rise.”—DODSLEY.
The faculty of sight should be estimated and regarded by us with more
than ordinary care, when we reflect that it is the medium through
which the most exalted and gratifying impressions are received; and
our watchful regard to its healthful preservation and agreeable
exercise is the more required from the consideration, that while to its
admirable organization and delicate sense of perception we stand so
much indebted, those very qualities render it extremely sensitive to
injudicious treatment.
It would be a wholesome, fair, and proper regulation, to restrain all
from practising as opticians but those practically conversant with
the production and application of lenses for the purpose of aiding
the exercise of sight. It is considered indispensable for the surgeon
and medical practitioner to prepare for his profession by a course
of study, reading, and practical operations, and to be subjected to
an ordeal where his capabilities are examined and tested. Such an
arrangement, though it _may_ sometimes be abused, guarantees to us
practitioners who understand their duties; and thus are the many “ills
which human flesh is heir to” alleviated and subdued, while those
unfortunates who are practised upon by the empiric and miracle-monger,
have their calamities aggravated, and their sufferings increased.
It is a question often mooted, how far it is the duty of a just and
equal government to interfere in such cases for the protection of
its subjects: this, however, is evident, that whatever restrictive
laws are framed, if they are attempted to be enforced while a want
of information prevails upon the subject, the very people for whose
benefit and protection they are introduced, will, likely enough, view
them with distrust and suspicion, and, until the imposition has been
unmasked, will look upon those who have assumed characters not their
own, as persecuted individuals, entitled to their sympathy rather than
their detestation. It is by diffusing information, and clearing away
obscurity, that we shall erect the best safeguard against delusion.
Those who are ignorant are consequently credulous, superstitious,
and undefended against the tricks and subtleties of the artful and
designing.
If a book is published, our opinion is almost insensibly influenced
by what the reviewers say of it. If a new association, a company, or
enterprise of any kind is projected, we look to the list of directors,
committee, and patrons. Our education and universal custom induces us
to pay deference to those whom we suppose to be possessed of superior
information, to be men of character and reputation, and entitled, from
their position in society, to be regarded with respect.
These legitimate feelings have been so poisoned and tampered with by
those who have designedly entered into a conspiracy to hoodwink the
people, and share the plunder; and again by the hardly less criminal
apathy of others, who, without dividing the spoil, have suffered the
trickery to pass unexposed; that professional and literary men cannot
but perceive distrust and want of confidence in their decisions, now
becoming general among the reflecting and intelligent classes of
society, who see that they have been trifled with, and treated as
credulous dupes, and that they really have no guarantee for the merits
of a production, the purity of a proposal, or the honesty or propriety
of any measure to which distinguished names and lofty patronage are
appended. The exposé of the practices of the railway, mining, and other
bubble schemes illustrates this truth; and the secrets elicited during
the discussion on Mr. Serjeant Talfourd’s Copyright Bill, clearly
demonstrate how infamously the confidence of “a generous public” has
been abused.[1]
The great and benevolent men who existed before us, and devoted their
time and contemplations to the interesting science of optics, have
fully and clearly demonstrated the laws which regulate the action of
light, the cause and effect of luminous phenomena, and the principles
upon which vision depends. We have the conclusive and unvarying
results of their numberless experiments, performed under every
modification of circumstances, to guide us in establishing principles
and rules of action, which the studious and practical opticians of our
own times have tested, and, ascertaining them to be free from error,
now adopt and act upon them.
The captious and consequential may complain of this admission,
as tending to detract from the importance with which they might
otherwise be regarded; but the optician, who deserves that name, is
not anxious to array himself in borrowed plumage, nor to appropriate
as his own that which rightfully belongs to others. Granted that we
act upon settled and incontrovertible philosophical principles, is
it not infinitely more gratifying to have the assurance of a correct
result, than to be for ever experimentalizing without arriving at a
satisfactory conclusion? The skilful surgeon and the talented engineer
are guided in their operations by certain fixed and universal laws,
yet no one will dispute that to perform the duties of either of those
professions requires much application, skill, and expertness. Precisely
so with the optician of the present day. He has fixed, universal, and
certain data for his operations; and it is upon his intimate knowledge
of these, and the careful and judicious application of them, that his
success depends.
When the healthy powers of vision begin to fail, we feel a tender
and anxious concern to perpetuate the enjoyment we find to be so
intimately dependent upon the uninterrupted exercise of sight, and
are instinctively led to seek for a remedy. Much mischief will be
avoided, and misapprehension removed, if we consider that in applying
artificial aid to the eye, we have to do with one of our most
sensitive and easily deranged organs. The human eye is composed of
a series of humours and membranes: the outer coating, called the
_sclerotica_ (_a_), see _Plate, Fig. 1_, is exceedingly strong, and
the muscles which move the eye are attached to it; the white of the
eye is a portion of this coating. The _cornea_ (_b_) arches out or
projects from the eye-ball; it is transparent, and of a circular form.
The next coating to the sclerotica is called the _choroides_ (_c_);
it has no muscular motion except at its extremities, near the front
of the eye. The _iris_ (_d_) is next apparent; it attaches itself to
the sclerotica by a cellular substance called the _ciliary circle_
(_e_). According to the colour of the iris the eye is termed black,
blue, hazel, &c. It is composed of two sets of muscular fibres, the one
tending, like radii, towards a centre, the other forming a number of
circles concentric with the same centre. The aperture in the iris is
called the _pupil_ (_f_); it is always round, but varies in diameter
as the radial or the circular fibres of the iris are contracted
or expanded, according to the quantity and quality of light it is
required to admit, acting like a watchful centinel to regulate the
amount of rays requisite to transmit a perfect and well-defined image
of objects onwards to the brain, which, without its agency, would
appear one undistinguishable mass of confusion. The chamber of the eye
is darkened by the posterior surface of the choroid membrane having
a lining of dark-coloured mucus, called the _pigmentum nigrum_. The
last coating of the eye is the _retina_ (_g_), a delicate and most
important membrane in the construction of this noble instrument; it
is an expansion of the _optic nerve_ (_h_), directly emanating from
the brain; and is spread like a net of exquisite delicacy all over
the surface of the choroides, terminating at the ciliary ligament.
It receives the images of objects by means of the rays of light that
enter at the pupil; it is transparent, but appears black on account of
the dark pigmentum behind it. The optic nerve passes through a small
aperture in the “_architectural dome_” containing the eye, and it
conveys the impressions made on the retina into the depository of the
brain, where the “very form and spirit of the scene is now conceived.”
It is situated a little on one side of the centre of the eye, inclining
towards the nose.
To describe more minutely the various fibres, humours, and ciliary
processes of the eye, or to enter more fully into its anatomical
arrangement, would be incompatible with the design of this publication,
which is intended for the “general reader,” and therefore so simplified
as that it is hoped he cannot fail to understand. The three transparent
humours enclosed by the coats of the eye, viz., the _aqueous_ (_i_),
the _chrystalline_ (_k_), and the _vitreous_ (_l_), are, however,
too important to be passed over without some notice. The aqueous
(_i_) humour it is which gives a protuberant figure to the cornea
(_b_); it has a refractive power, similar to that of water, which it
also resembles in appearance. The chrystalline (_k_) humour is more
transparent than the purest chrystal; its form is that of a double
convex lens, which it also resembles in its use, as it converges the
rays which pass through it, from every visible object to its focus on
the retina. It is suspended in a fine transparent sheathing. The shape
or convexity of this natural lens alters occasionally, and shifts a
little backwards or forwards in the eye, so as to adapt its focal
distance from the retina to the different distances of objects. The
vitreous humour is situated at the back of the chrystalline, filling
nearly three-fourths of the globe of the eye; it is surrounded by a
thin capsule, which sends off a number of membranous processes into the
vitreous substance, where they form cells, which, communicating with
each other, give a high degree of firmness and tenacity to the whole.
_Fig. 2._ represents the eye at the time when spectacles are required,
the cornea, or the chrystalline, or both, having lost a part of their
natural convexity, consequent upon age or constitutional weakness.
An object placed at the same distance from the eye as in the perfect
eye, (_Fig. 1_), has the focus carried beyond the retina. A convex
lens applied to the eye compensates for this loss of capacity, and,
converging the rays, corrects the focal distance, and the image is now
imprinted naturally on the retina. The reverse of this takes place in
the case of the short-sighted; the humours being _more_ convex than in
the perfect eye, the rays converge in a focus _before_ they reach the
retina. A concave lens carries the focus further on, and, by its aid,
an object will be depicted perfectly on the retina.
No. 4 represents a plano convex lens—5, a double convex—6, a plano
concave—7, a double concave—8, a periscopic or meniscus lens.
What grandeur and sublimity of contrivance is here blended with
simplicity of action and power of expression! How indispensable to a
full appreciation of the bounties of nature and the beauties of art by
which we are surrounded! To be deficient of this heavenly gift is truly
to have “wisdom at one entrance quite shut out.”
Surely every consideration should influence us to treat this invaluable
faculty with judicious care, instead of allowing it to be tortured and
trifled with by the ignorant and unprincipled.
Having surveyed the general construction, and glanced at the inimitable
mechanism of those windows of the soul, we shall be better prepared to
understand the reasoning, and to comprehend the principles upon which
the science of optics is based. Those of my readers who have leisure
to pursue this subject, will find new light, and more convincing
illustrations attend their enquiry at every step. It is a subject
abounding in beauty and interest, introducing us to new regions of
sublimity and grandeur, where the contemplative mind will assuredly
find “ample scope and verge enough” to gratify its most exalted
anticipations. We have seen the admirable, yet at the same time
delicate contrivances by which the functions of the eyes are performed.
It cannot fail to have occurred to us, that a machine so beautiful and
complete is liable to derangement and improper treatment by the wayward
and the ignorant. If it is desirable that a person possessed of a
well-constructed watch should understand its general action, and know
what treatment it should have to keep it in sound and underanged order,
still more essential is it that every individual should possess a clear
and familiar knowledge of the nature of vision, and understand the
requirements of the eyes. I cannot forbear indulging a sanguine hope
that the circulation of this little manual will open the eyes of its
readers to the simple facts of the case, and animate them to think and
judge for themselves, instead of giving a ready ear to the marvellous
and ridiculous tales, which, though, like the sailor’s tough yarn,
so often told that the cheat believes them himself, are nevertheless
utterly devoid of truth.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] In the month of August, 1838, the solicitor to the Duke of
Wellington waited upon Sir Frederick Roe, at Bow-street, in reference
to the use which had been made of his grace’s name by “The London
Equitable Loan Company.” A gentleman, who was desirous of purchasing
shares in the company, seeing the Duke of Wellington mentioned as
patron, and that the account of the company was kept with the Bank of
England, wrote to the Duke to ascertain if it were true that he was
connected with the concern? The duke never had consented to become a
patron, but, on the contrary, when asked to do so, answered that he was
so situated that he could not comply with their request. On receiving
the communication the duke wrote to Sir F. Roe, to see what could be
done to guard the public against any transaction which might be entered
into in consequence of the use made of his name; and in answer to a
letter written by him to the Bank of England, he was informed “that no
such company was known there, nor had they any account of the London
Equitable Loan Company.” The publicity given to this manœuvre has no
doubt saved many a family from enthralment and destitution.
CHAPTER II.
“The subject is of universal importance, since every man, woman, and
child in the empire will probably require optical assistance.”—ABBOTT.
The eyes, when in a sound and healthy state, instinctively adjust
themselves at a distance of twelve inches from a book or paper, when
they are observing the same. This distance is found to be most natural
and agreeable; for when we extend it to sixteen, twenty, or thirty
inches, the chrystalline lens is stimulated to keep a distinct and
clear perception, until, as the distance increases, the object becomes
less and less perceptible. When we are compelled to extend this natural
distance, experience difficulty in reading small characters, or find
it necessary to get more light on what we are observing, we may safely
conclude that artificial assistance is needed, and that, judiciously
applied, the tendency to decay will be mildly arrested.
The design of spectacles is to supply the loss of power which is
experienced by the eyes at different periods of life, and arising from
various causes. These productions of art are constructed with a close
observance to, and act upon, the same principles as those by which the
process of vision is regulated.
Spectacles ought not to do more than maintain or preserve to us the
capability of seeing at the natural distance. This is, in fact, all
they are intended to effect. When the chrystalline lens of the eye,
losing its convexity, fails to converge the rays of light, and bring
them to their natural focus on the retina, an artificial lens, of
suitable convexity, supplies to it this capability, and compensates for
its gradual diminution of capacity. Thus lenses for assisting the sight
are fashioned upon the optical principles so apparent in the mechanism
of the eye itself, which, it will be observed, is neither round nor
flat, but of that nicely moulded convexity which is indispensable for
the performance of its functions. If lenses were either spheres or
planes they likewise would be ineffective for the purpose proposed.
There is not any material in existence beside pebble and glass, which
is calculated for spectacle purposes. The pretended “improvements,”
“pellucid lenses,” “refractive transparencies,” “patent amber,”
“chrystal preservers,” &c., are new-fangled terms, coined to entrap the
uninitiated.[2]
Convex lenses are produced by a series of operations through which a
glass or pebble passes, as shaping out from the rough piece, affixing
them to the block or frame on which they are worked, grinding their
surfaces to the form and focus required, in brass or iron tools of the
curvature or radius corresponding. Thus to produce a glass or pebble of
any given focal length, we use a tool which is a portion of a sphere
or globe of four, five, ten, or any other given radius, or half its
diameter. For spectacles usually required, the focus of the pebble or
glass, thus fashioned, varies from sixty inches down to five inches.
The focus of a convex or magnifying glass is ascertained very readily,
thus: hold the lens near to a white surface, as a sheet of writing
paper, pinned to the side of the apartment opposite to the window;
shift the lens gently backwards and forwards, until the objects before
it, as the window frames, flower pots, or the Venetian blinds, are seen
inverted upon the paper, clearly and distinctly measure the distance
from the paper to the lens, and this distance is the focus: or, by
placing a candle at the distance of twelve feet from the paper, and
measuring, as before, when the reflected image of the flame is shown
most accurately on the paper, we again have the focus denoted. The one
method is as much practised as the other; though, in ordering a lens of
a given focus, I would recommend a person always to state the method by
which he has determined the focus; whether by the sun, or candlelight,
which will prevent any mistake arising from the disparity between the
two plans pursued.
Concave lenses are made upon the same principle, and pass through
similar processes. They are designated by numbers, thus: a concave
lens, worked in a tool of four-inch radius, is termed No. 12;
five-inch, No. 10; ten-inch, No. 6. &c.
To determine the radius or focus of a concave lens, apply to its
surface a convex lens of the same focus, and holding the two together
as one glass, between the thumb and finger, at some distance before
the eye, give the hand a gentle motion to and fro, and if the objects
looked at through the lenses now in contact appear fixed, equal, and of
their natural size, then is the focus of the one correspondent to that
of the other; but if the convex lens is not of the same focal length as
the concave to which it is thus applied, then all objects looked upon
will appear to shake and have a tremulous motion.
Another method of ascertaining whether one concave lens is of the
same number, and worked in tools of the same radius as another, is to
hold one in each hand, placing their edges against each other, with
their centres in a parallel line; now withdraw ten or twelve feet
from the window, and observe the top and bottom bars of a square of
glass: if they appear equal and uniform in all their parts, parallel
to each other, and agreeing with the other squares in the window, then
are they of the same radius; but if they do not match, the bars will
appear disjointed, and higher or lower in one square than in the other.
The trial box of sights will be found very useful in making these
experiments.
Brazil pebbles, or crystallized quartz, are imported to this country
in rough blocks; these are cut or slit, by the aid of pulverized
diamond, into slabs or pieces, of the diameter required. Those pieces
in which bubbles, waves, or blemishes appear, are thrown aside by the
optician who is tenacious of his fair fame, as their imperfections
become more apparent in every after-stage of their progress; and when
polished, centred, and shaped for the spectacle-frame, they are really
improper to be used at all; nevertheless, the needy, or dishonest,
rather than lose a fraction of their gains, often persist in working
up such imperfect material, and harping upon their being pebble—real
pebble—palm them off upon the uninitiated as genuine articles. Pebbles
have the following important advantages: they are of equal density,
and exceedingly hard, firm, and clear; their surfaces are not liable
to become misty or scratched (which circumstance alone often compels
a change of glasses): they are of a pure, cool nature, and shew this
contrast to glass (which is, on the contrary, produced by the action
of artificial heat) in the touch of the finger or tongue to their
surfaces.[3] They are, in consequence of these properties, calculated
to suit the sight for a longer period than glass; but they need not be
thrown aside, when, from the indications already referred to, we find
an increase of magnifying power is required, as they can be re-worked
readily enough to meet the requirement of the eyes, and at an expense
scarcely more than a new pair of glasses, or about one-third of their
original cost. The directions for ascertaining the focus of concave or
convex pebbles, are the same as described for concave or convex glasses.
This consideration should weigh with those who are apt to be misled
by the pretensions of the unprincipled; for pebbles have, in common
with many other crystals, a double refracting property, which, if the
pebble is cut carelessly, exhibits itself by painfully affecting the
vision; two objects, instead of one, are seen, causing a confused and
agitating sense of indistinctness, which, in proportion to the exertion
of the eye to overcome it, is the more tiresome and distressing. Such
faulty and blemished articles, technically called _wasters_, are
refused by the optician of any real respectability and character, but
are eagerly bought up by those venders, whose object is to purchase
what costs them the least money, alike ignorant of, and indifferent to,
any other consideration.
Pebbles, therefore, like all the precious stones, which, in fact,
are crystals, cannot be properly cut or sliced except in a parallel
direction to their natural faces.
Periscopic or meniscus lenses were introduced in the year 1770, and
revived at a later period by Dr. Wollaston. Their properties were
investigated by many scientific persons, and again candidly examined
by Mr. W. Jones; yet, notwithstanding the oblivion to which they were
consigned by the universal consent of practical opticians, they are
still foisted on the public, under various disguises, and embellished
with sundry new appellations. They are concave on one side, and convex
on the other, the inner and outer curve differing, in order to produce
a focus. When placed in the spectacle-frame, their convex surface is
always from the eye; this necessarily exposes their centres to be
rubbed and scratched. The halo, or aberration of light, is greater
in lenses of this form than in any other. This can be easily proved
by placing a double convex, and a periscopic lens, each of the same
diameter and focus, say one-and-a-half inch diameter, and three or four
inch focus, edgeways together. Let the image of a lighted candle be
thrown against a white wall or paper, in a dark situation, through the
two lenses, and it will be conspicuously seen that the periscopic lens
exhibits this dazzling indistinctness, while in the double convex lens
it is scarcely perceptible.
Parallel or flat surface lenses are produced from tools perfectly
level, and without any curvature. For spectacle purposes their only use
is as shades or shields for the eye, to protect it from the effects
of bright and dazzling objects, dust, and wind. They are, however,
indispensable in the construction of sextants, artificial horizons, and
other mathematical instruments.
Spectacles for travelling by rail-road, on the old beaten path, or by
vessels, are usually fitted with parallel glasses, unless the wearer
requires focal power as well as a screen, in which case they are of the
concave or convex figure, before explained. Almost every combination
of light and shade has been used for this class of spectacles; violet,
grey, blue, green, crape, wove wire, &c.; but some sensitive and tender
eyes failed to receive the relief expected from any of these, and
opticians have been repeatedly baffled in their attempts to produce
a shade of glass congenial to the requirements of the eye under such
circumstances. I have made extensive use of the new neutral tint, or
twilight tinge glass, and find it most agreeable to the eye while
employing it, and when removed, it leaves the vision undisturbed by the
flickering and confused halo so much complained of after wearing other
coloured glasses. The cause of this superiority is clearly seen when
we remember that, after taking off a pair of green glass spectacles,
every object appears of a red colour, while, upon the removal of blue
colours, an orange or yellow mantle seems to rest on all which meets
the view.
It is of consequence that all such glasses should be really parallel,
otherwise a broken and disjointed appearance will be given to objects,
the rays of light being abruptly dispersed instead of being transmitted
through the transparent medium to the eye, in their natural direction.
I have always discountenanced the use of wire, gauze, crape, and
muslin substitutes for glass, because, in my opinion, it is a fallacy
to assert that they are cooler and more agreeable to the eye. There
is abundant space for the circulation of air in the region of the eye
if the spectacle-frame adapts itself pleasantly to the wearer’s face;
while the eye and common sense may answer together, that to look on
things around us, a transparent medium is preferable to a hazy and
indistinct one. We do not choose bars and gratings, or coarse curtains,
in preference to glass, for the windows of apartments; but if the light
is sometimes too intense, we place a shade to soften its dazzling
effects. Such precisely is the reason why tinted glass spectacles, for
defending the eyes from rain, dust, and wind, are recommended.
Lenses worked by machinery are produced in greater quantities, within
a given time, than those worked by hand. They are passed through the
different stages of grinding and polishing without having the keen eye
of the workman carefully watching their progress, and adjusting the
inequalities in their surfaces or edges, which will always appear more
or less in the course of working.
The price at which competition demands those lenses shall be rendered,
operates against the wearer of spectacles; for the producer cannot
afford to throw aside such as are faulty, and the wholesale agent and
retail dispenser cannot expect to have, at the low price charged,
lenses which will bear a critical examination; and thus all which can
possibly be used are thrust into frames of one kind or other, from the
common iron or horn sold by the poor hawkers at sixpence, eightpence,
and one shilling per pair, to the more expensive frames; while many
faulty glasses, after being dubbed with some ear-tickling appellation,
and imbibing extraordinary “light-modifying and refractive virtues,”
by passing into the hands of the hawker of a higher class, are palmed
upon the unfortunate spectacle-purchasers who are simple enough to give
credence to the wondrous tale.
Women and children are chiefly employed to cut and edge those cheap
glasses to the spectacle-frames; and who can expect they should do them
better for the price? And if one glass should be unequally thick, like
a wedge, while its companion in the same spectacles is miserably thin;
or if the centres, instead of being equidistant from all parts of the
rim are nipped into a corner; how _can_ you feel surprised when you
consider that for them to earn a living, it is necessary they should
finish several dozen pairs per day, and therefore, expedition, rather
than excellence, is the point at which they aim? In many departments,
where machinery has supplanted manual labour, the work produced is of
a superior character, and will bear more critical examination; but the
contrary is the fact in the case of machine-worked optical glasses,
and is more especially apparent in such as are intended for microscopic
and achromatic purposes. It cannot be denied that, for all such uses,
lenses worked by hand, with the ordinary care of a skilful workman, as
much excel those produced by machinery, as the accurate and scientific
touch of the artist eclipses the random splash of the plasterer.
The trial box, or frame of sights, ranging from the slightest
focal power down to the deepest, is a very useful apparatus, both
for the optician and his patient. It consists of eight or nine
spectacle-fronts, clamped together at one end by a rivet, on which
they are yet free to move. The focus of each pair is stamped on the
front. They are enclosed by a pair of lids, which forms a handle, to
be held by the hand, while one front after another is placed before
the eyes, to determine what focus yields the desired assistance. This
being ascertained, and having noted down the power we find to suit most
naturally, as explained when treating of convex lenses, page 12, we
have only to determine what style of mounting we prefer, and whether
we will have glasses or pebbles, for the optician to suit us at once
with lenses adapted to the sight, and mountings fitting pleasantly to
the head. If an interview with the optician is impracticable, it will
be ensuring greater accuracy, to mention the exact distance, measured
as a straight line from the centre of the pupil of one eye to that of
the other; and if the nose, on the bridge between the eyes, is flat or
prominent, broad or narrow, since spectacles, suiting the sight most
accurately, are frequently an annoyance, rather than an assistance, to
the wearer, from these particulars being unheeded.
Two trial boxes comprise the range of convex sight, one for young
persons, and those who require spectacles for the first, second, or
third time; the other for those eyes which have been long accustomed to
spectacles, or from some constitutional or sudden cause, need those of
strong magnifying power. The third box contains concave lenses, ranging
from No. 1 to 12, which are the sights chiefly wanted, although, in
extraordinary cases, No. 13, 14, and even 20, have been required.
Although, throughout this treatise, I have endeavoured to convince my
readers that they may and ought mainly to determine for themselves, yet
I would recommend a visit to the optician, where it is practicable,
in preference to a description of the case; for the same reason that
the best written statement of a patient’s malady, sent to a physician,
does not afford him that familiar acquaintance with the case which an
interview of a few minutes would supply.
FOOTNOTES:
[2] The manufacture of glass was known very early, but glass perfectly
transparent and colourless was reckoned so valuable, that Nero is said
to have given a sum equal to £25 for two moderate sized colourless
drinking glasses.—_Starke’s Oriental Letters._
Glass for optical uses is heavy, homogeneous, free from streaks
and veins. More expensive chemical substances are employed in its
manufacture than are used in making common glass.
[3] Pebbles, again, are proved by grinding the edges briskly on a
moderately smooth file, or porous stone; they will resist the action
of these, and emit sparkles of light as the velocity of the friction
is increased, while glasses, on the contrary, yield, and are ground
without difficulty.
CHAPTER III.
“Every day’s observation shews how far some men may be carried from
the most evident and obvious truths, to support a new hypothesis,
which has no foundation either in nature or reason; but truth will
ever control and prevail over error, though supported with all the
powers of rhetoric and novelty.”—B. MARTIN.
Where distance, or any other cause, prevents our having access to
persons who are competent to suit us properly with spectacles, great
care should be exercised to choose those which cause the print of a
newspaper, or the ordinary types of a book, to appear of their natural
and proper size, while they are viewed at the distance most agreeable
for reading, viz., twelve inches from the eye. It is evidently better
to “try spectacles” on such ordinary printing as they will be generally
exercised upon, than to test them by the very small print with which
persons frequently provide themselves. To decipher this, a greater
power is demanded than is requisite for usual reading, writing, and
needlework, which are the purposes for which we require them, and not
for microscopic observation, nor for distant views.
The eyes in which no malformation or disease exists, but which simply
partake of constitutional decay, or, from too continued application
to sedentary and studious pursuits, are beginning to feel a want of
assistance, should have spectacles of sixty-inch focus, which is an
exceedingly slight magnifying power; and if these are found to be
insufficient to afford an agreeable and natural perception (not an
enlarged or magnified image of the letters of a book, &c., held in
the hand at the distance of twelve or fourteen inches from the eye),
then apply those of the next power, viz., forty-eight inches’ focus.
If these again are unequal to supply the loss of power or incapacity
of the eye to converge the light to a point at the instant it reaches
the retina, then lenses of thirty-six inches focus are to be had
recourse to; and when these fail to afford agreeable vision, thirty,
twenty-eight, twenty-four, twenty, must be progressively adopted, thus
gradually descending the scale until the eyes receive such compensation
for their progressive decay and loss of power, as spectacles carefully
suited to the sight are capable so effectually to supply.
The period at which the sight begins to fail does not at all depend
on age, but varies in different persons according to the formation of
the eyes, the treatment they have received, and the constitutional
capability; therefore, the age of the person requiring spectacles gives
but a vague general idea to the optician as to what is required, unless
other particulars are stated; such as whether glasses have been used
before; the distance at which writing and printing is seen pleasantly
without assistance, the focus of those last used, or sending even but a
broken piece of the same.
“The proper selection of spectacles for imperfect vision is a point
of much deeper importance than is generally believed. An _oculist_
who is only acquainted with the diseases of the human eye, without
possessing any knowledge of it as an optical instrument, is often led
professionally to recommend glasses when they ought not to be used, or
to fix on focal lengths entirely unfit for the purpose to which they
are applied, and the _mere vender_ of spectacles and lenses is still
more frequently in the habit of proffering such counsel.”—BREWSTER.
The near-sighted, or those who require concave spectacles should
use those of the slightest power; No. 0, or No. 1, will generally
be sufficient at first, but this, by the aid of the trial box,
can readily be determined by the wearer himself. There is such an
immense benefit experienced by the short-sighted from spectacles
which suit their sight, that to argue for their adoption of them
would be quite superfluous. Without spectacles they are excluded from
observing beautiful landscapes, recognizing individuals, or viewing to
advantage any of the crowd of interesting objects around them; but by
adopting them they are placed on a par with the long-sighted in such
circumstances, while the sharp and microscopic character of their sight
_without_ spectacles, gives them many advantages over those possessing
ordinary vision.
The short, or near-sighted eyes, have the cornea, and often the
crystalline lens, more convex or arched out than in long-sighted eyes.
This formation causes the rays to converge to a focus before they reach
the retina, but by the application of a concave lens the difficulty is
corrected, and the rays are carried on to their proper point for giving
a perfect representation on the retina.
This character of sight is very frequent, and is more particularly
remarkable among those whose mode of life restricts them to crowded
cities, sedentary employments, and confined situations. Those whose
infantine and youthful years have been passed in the country, or where
the eyes have had a free range of view, not circumscribed by the walls
of the nursery, or limited to the observation of objects near at hand,
rarely require concave spectacles.[4]
The spectacle-frames next demand our attention, as our utmost care in
judiciously selecting lenses of the proper focus for our sight will be
neutralized if the frame or mounting in which they are placed does not
apply comfortably to the head, leaving the lenses they carry fair and
parallel before the eyes. If the front of a pair of spectacles is too
short for the wearer’s face, he will look upon the edge of the lens,
and a portion of the exterior rim of the frame; if they are too long
his eye will meet the opposite edge and inner curve of the rim.
Spectacle-frames are fashioned to suit the variety of formation in
different individuals, and therefore such should be applied as adapt
themselves pleasantly to the temples, across the forehead and before
the eyes. The pupil of the eye should, when looking at an object
directly before it, see through the centre of the spectacle-eye, so
that if the whole of the glass, except the small centre, were painted
black, the rays of light would pass through it without distortion of
the pupil. The bridge or nose-part of the spectacle-frame should be
arched out, made like the crank of a lathe, or perfectly parallel with
the knuckles of the sides, according to the formation of the wearer’s
nose, otherwise the spectacles sit awkwardly on the face too far from
or too near to the eye-lashes, with their centres too high or too low
for the natural exercise of sight. Trifling as these particulars may
seem, they cannot be neglected with impunity. Where these defects
are unattended to, the eye is tortured by straining to overcome the
difficulty, and striving to accommodate itself to them, instead of
their being shaped to meet its requirements. Some old-fashioned
spectacles have short side-pieces, which press most unpleasantly on
one point of the temples, and when closed scratch and rub the lenses.
Others have very cumbrous and heavy sides, with double lift or common
hinge-joints. These also scratch the lenses when folded up, and can
only be worn with any degree of comfort when the head is uncovered.
Decidedly the best constructed spectacle-frames are those which,
without being clumsy, have enough strength to admit of the sides being
extended the full width of the face without bending the front, with
single sides rather longer than their front for ladies’ use, and with
turnpin sides (an extending joint, turning on a pivot,) for gentlemen.
The material of which they are composed should be either gold, silver,
or enamelled blue steel. Tortoiseshell, also, when well made, is very
light and pleasant to wear, particularly for ladies. There is no
advantage in large size, or round-eye spectacles, to compensate for
their clumsy appearance and great weight; we get a sufficient expanse
of observation with the oval-shape glasses without harassing the eye
with an excess of light, which the large glasses admit.
Solid blue steel mountings are a decided improvement, and are
invaluable for persons who constantly require spectacles. They are
wrought from a plate of steel, and shaped as light and uniform as any
other town-made elastic blue-steel spectacles, with the advantage of
being more durable, and eventually less expensive; for as they have no
soldering in their composition, it is scarcely possible to break them,
and therefore they rarely want repairing. Blue steel spectacles, in
consequence of their being so much in request, are coarsely imitated,
and vast numbers are sold by the pretended cheap shops, at apparently
low prices which the wearer will find to be immensely beyond their real
value. There are thirteen different qualities of the spectacles termed
blue steel. The chief part are country made, and roughly put together,
some being all iron, others having iron fronts and steel sides;
others again bear a tolerably close resemblance to the best town-made
articles, and unless the two are compared together, are likely to
deceive a casual observer.[5]
The fine elastic blue steel, of the best quality, are exceedingly
light, highly polished, and beautifully enamelled. They will retain
their appearance for two or three years, when carefully used; and they
can be restored to their original appearance at any time for a few
shillings’ expense.
The anti-pressure spectacles are made of gold, silver, or the elastic
steel. They are not adapted for ladies’ use, but for gentlemen have
been much in demand, as they obviate the necessity of opening and
closing a second joint or lengthening piece, and do not press or annoy
the nose or temples, but by an equal tenacity preserve their proper
position before the eyes.
Single eye-glasses, though very convenient for occasional use, are not
to be compared with spectacles for the agreeable and natural assistance
they give to vision. The eye should not be dependent on them for
continuous assistance. Those who persist in using them should do so as
little as possible; but the wiser course is to discard them entirely,
and adopt the double eye-glasses where it would be tedious to apply
spectacles of the usual kind.
That the vision is more natural and perfect when both eyes are employed
than when one glass only is used, must be self-evident, as the axis of
each glass, placed as they should be in the spectacles, coincides with
the axis of each eye, and the rays of light are thus equally refracted
to the eye. Again, the eyes have a most acute and sensitive sympathy
with each other, and when a single eye-glass is constantly used they
are unnaturally exercised, and prevented from acting in concert. One
eye (generally the right eye) has the glass perpetually applied to
it; and very frequently, in consequence of this pernicious practice,
becomes of a different focus to the other. Mr. George Adams informs us
that he did not recollect an instance of a short-sighted person who had
occasion to increase the focus of his concaves if he began by wearing
spectacles, but that the cases were frequent, where a single eye-glass
had been used, in which the persons had frequently required a change of
glasses.
The prices of spectacles are diversified and fluctuating, like all
other manufactures, so that to publish a list of prices would only tend
to mislead and deceive my readers. For instance, the price of a pair
of pebbles, used formerly to be one guinea extra to the charge for
glasses; they are now reduced to half that sum. A pair of pebbles, of
the concave or of the periscopic figure, were at the same time charged
twenty-five shillings. These have been reduced in the same proportion.
And it cannot be too universally known, that a person can have a pair
of good convex glasses fitted into his spectacles, and correctly suited
to his sight, at from one shilling and sixpence to two shillings
per pair, by any respectable optician. The poorest person may be
defended against the tender mercies of the spectacle speculators; for
he really can obtain a better article for his money, both in quality
and suitableness to his sight, of the respectable optician, and, upon
an average, at _a less cost_ than the cheat contrives, by dint of
manœuvring, to extract from him. Good lenses, in plain frames, or, in
other words, a good pair of spectacles, may be had, correctly suited
to the sight, for two shillings and sixpence. Who then, knowing this,
would suffer his sight to be tampered with? Truly, those who would
stickle for a shilling in the price of such valuable and essential
instruments
“Deserve not the comfort they shed o’er the soul.”
Yet, at the same time, there is no reason why those exorbitant charges
should be submitted to, which are often paid without hesitation by the
delighted purchaser, when a pair of spectacles appears to suit his
sight.
The love of the marvellous, and the insane thirst for novelties, are
strikingly displayed in many inquirers for spectacles. The honest,
straight-forward, and disinterested counsel of the established
tradesman, is looked upon with scowling suspicion; but the
preposterous and shallow pretensions of the empiric, decked with all
the paraphernalia of fudge and falsehood, are listened to with eager
curiosity. If the writer looked to self-interest as his guiding star,
his course would be to preserve silence on these subjects; since it
needs not to be demonstrated, that the practice and the profit of the
regular practitioner are increased by the patched-up and mangled cases,
which are, as it were, provided for him, over and above the number who
_legitimately require_ the exercise of his skill. But he despises such
mercenary calculations, and contends that “The happiness of mankind at
large is a principle that ought to be followed out by all individuals
at every personal cost, and against every kind of opposition.”—_Medical
Examiner._
FOOTNOTES:
[4] In Russia the person having short sight is seated in a chair for
several hours daily, with the head placed in a natural position for
reading, but prevented from pressing forward. The page is at first
placed at the short distance at which the eyes have been accustomed to
observe; but this distance is gradually extended, until the humours of
the eyes, constantly exercised in endeavouring to accommodate their
powers to the gently increased demand upon them, at length acquire the
capability of observing at the usual distance.
It is undoubtedly the fact that this character of sight may be
acquired; many instances could be adduced of watchmakers and others,
whose employments are of a sedentary or studious character, becoming
short-sighted.
[5] It will be perceived that it is the workmanship and nice finish of
the best town-made spectacle-frames which necessarily increases the
price. Thus, a single pound of pig iron, which costs one penny, can be
manufactured into watch-springs of the value of £240.
CHAPTER IV.
“Allured by hope of plunder, and intent
By force to rob, by fraud to circumvent,”—ÆNEIS.
I shall give a few instances of the manner in which advertising
adventurers rack their ingenuity to dress up their announcements in
the most catching and attractive style; and, failing to find language
sufficiently striking and pointed to arrest attention, scruple not to
manufacture terms and apply similies, which, however preposterous and
absurd they are seen to be when examined, yet answer their purpose of
mystifying the public, and inducing a purchase of the vaunted articles.
We have only to glance at the columns of our newspapers, and the covers
of periodical publications, for illustrations of the extent to which
the system of scheming, falsehood, and trickery, termed puffing, is
carried. In one specious and lofty-toned announcement we are told that
the most splendid discovery of the present age is now admitted, by the
most unquestionable (?) testimonials, to be “Grindstone Snuff,” which
is warranted to cure gutta serena, cataract, and all other diseases of
the eyes, while a single pinch scares away headache and nervousness!
Another startles the weatherwise by his impudent pretension to be the
_only_ maker of barometers and thermometers in London; whereas, if
the real truth were disclosed, it would be found that his connexion
with the trade consisted in some such occupation as engraving the
index plates of the instrument for his employers, who surely have the
greater right to be considered real makers. Balsams, cough drops,
rheumatism and gout dispersers, pills, cerates, syrups, shaving soaps,
cornplasters, and heal-alls—all boast of the wondrous cures effected,
and testimonials received. The long list of essences and decoctions,
from vinegar to honey, also have the names of distinguished gentlemen
of the faculty, the royal family, nobility, clergy, and gentry,
appended as bearing testimony to their surprising virtues. “Highgate’s
universal irresistible Ointment” we are informed, is an invaluable
specific for all disorders.
“But who shall decide when doctors disagree?”
A counter address denounces the same individual as an _uncertificated
impostor_, who has no testimonials of his own, but has filched extracts
from the only real original certificates and testimonials of “Monsieur
Holabolo’s genuine Panacea,” which alone is a radical cure for all
internal and external complaints. Another ointment puffer, whose
nostrum is warranted to cure the plague and cholera, among other evils,
occupies two columns of a newspaper with cures said to be effected
by it; and these are flanked with no less than seventy-six names of
surgeons and oculists, who, among others, testify to its monstrous
virtues!![6]
Now in all these quack advertisements, we find the names, titles,
and residences of the professional gentlemen correctly given, which,
possibly may be of some consideration. Indeed, I know it is to some
few an advantage not to be overlooked, as their names are thus kept
before the public eye free of expense to them, and they are, although
indirectly, as effectually puffed into notice as the quack himself.
Without charging the respectable and high-minded members of the
profession with entering into a compact, and designedly lending the
sanction of their name and office to these abominable schemes of
imposition, and granting full force to the apologies they offer as to
its “being customary;” “that the profession generally do it;” “that
to interfere would be expensive and troublesome;” and that “it is
the fault of the public, who suffer themselves to be deluded by such
shallow artifices,” I conceive it to be the bounden duty of every man
of honour, when those tricksters employ his name without his sanction
or authority, to adopt measures to disabuse that very large section
of society, who attach full credit to statements appearing under such
auspices.
But it is with spectacle advertisers that we are more immediately
concerned, and it is therefore essential to convince every individual
of ordinary capacity, that he can, by the exercise of common sense, and
the moderate use of his reasoning faculties, safely and judiciously
determine for himself, when spectacles are required, and what powers
and qualities they should possess; either when the eyes first require
restorative aid, or at any subsequent period of life.
Amber spectacles have been bepraised and forced into notice as much
as any of these quack specifics. I consider that the apathy and
indifference manifested by those who know the statements put forth
to be a tissue of falsehoods, are extremely reprehensible. No wonder
that thousands have been tricked and trifled with when such novel
and plausible pretensions have remained unchallenged, and those
who know them to be hollow and deceitful artifices have suffered
them to remain unexposed. Amber is so soft that a proper degree of
polish cannot be given to it to make it suitable for spectacles. The
streaks, specks, veins, and irregularities in it may be detected by
the most casual observer. Glass and pebbles assimilate closely to the
composition of the eye itself, but amber only imitates its diseased and
decayed appearance. When the powers of the eye begin to decline, the
crystalline humour becomes somewhat yellow, and as the decay proceeds
this tinge increases.[7] Amber is strongly charged with electricity;
it has an affinity for oil, grease, and human perspiration; “and it was
from amber that the electrical fluid was first obtained.”[8]
Since writing the above, I have received, by the medium of the twopenny
post, a printed circular, headed, “_Amber Spectacles._—M——having
experienced from the use of amber spectacles that which is expressed by
the following eminent gentlemen, considers it to be his duty to caution
the public against the use of them:— “Amber is a soft substance, and
it is impossible to form it into a perfect lens, and a lens improperly
constructed would prove most injurious to vision. Amber, in a moderate
heat, becomes sticky; and by cleaning it in a short time, the polish
wears off. It is also easily scratched, and soon loses the little
transparency it possesses. Glue, as to substance and colour, is quite
equal to it; and although purchasers pay an enormous price for amber
spectacles, yet they incur a great risk of materially injuring their
vision.”[9]
If there even were any merit or superiority in amber spectacles, be
it observed, that the persons who prate about _their_ discovery, are
not the parties who originated or introduced the article. I have in
my possession several which were first brought to this country, and
sold by a Prussian mechanic, long before he came in contact with
individuals, who took a shameful advantage of his forlorn situation,
and, after deluding him with specious promises, reduced him to their
own terms. The poor man found remonstrances to be unavailing; and as he
knew that redress was both uncertain and expensive, he refrained from
farther interference, sighing as he said,—
“My poverty and not my will consents.”
Cautions respecting amber spectacles have frequently appeared in the
daily newspapers. On the 17th of APRIL, 1838, the “_Sun_” contained a
long advertisement, lauding their extraordinary virtues. In the same
page, followed an exposé of the puff; and in another part of the paper
was the following paragraph, made to appear as the editor’s remarks:—
“An advertisement appeared in our paper of the 9th instant, calling
into question the merits of patent amber spectacles, which have been
so highly recommended for the preservative and assisting qualities for
defective vision, by men of high character and professional reputation.
The names of Messrs. Dollond and Curtis being used, it is right that
the public should be apprised of the ascertained fact, that it owes its
insertion, not to the knowledge of those gentlemen, but to the personal
pique of interested individuals.”
Persons who are somewhat acquainted with the manner in which such
paragraphs are got up, well know what importance is to be attached
to them; the uninitiated, however, are led to suppose that Messrs.
Dollond and Curtis were not of the opinions expressed, but that some
of the trade, jealous of the advertisers’ “high character,” had
maliciously questioned the “superior refractive property,” “light
modifying,” “cool,” and “soothing” attributes of the admirable amber.
But what ought we to think of the professional and literary characters
who countenance the system of fraud and delusion practised by puffing
advertisers. We might in charity suppose that the signatures of those
eminent persons were surreptitiously obtained; and in that case, the
straight-forward course they ought to adopt, should be publicly to
disavow all connection with the cheats. But if they really hold the
opinions attributed to them, we are bound to declare that, opposed as
such idle notions are to truth and common sense, their presumption
is ridiculous in publishing opinions on a subject of which they are
grossly ignorant—ay, grossly ignorant! however capable and popular they
may be in their own professions. Indeed many names of able and skilful
surgeons are enumerated in the list of patrons and testimonial writers,
who would smile at the effrontery of self-dubbed opticians, and the
credulity of the public, conscious that they had no pretensions to any
superior acquaintance with the subject. The ingenious and talented
Dr. Neill Arnott remarks, in his “Elements of Physics,”—“Will it be
believed that _there are medical men_ who neither understand mechanics
nor hydraulics, nor pneumatics, nor optics, nor acoustics, beyond the
merest routine; and that systems of medical education are put forth
at this day, which do not even mention the department of physics or
natural philosophy;”
But a general diffusion of knowledge is changing the condition of
society, and elevating the human character. At first we almost tremble
at our own boldness, in demanding proofs of the capability of our
teachers; but the mind, gathering power, and unfolding its strength,
with every opportunity for its manifestation, insists on having
positive proofs, rather than vague pretensions, and demands solid
information, instead of empty nothingness, however gorgeously arrayed,
or pompously introduced.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] As for operators on the teeth, they have multiplied exceedingly in
the land. Their successful career is a _biting_ satire on the credulity
of their supporters.
_American Quackery._—The cost for advertising quack medicines in the
United States, annually, is estimated at 200,000 dollars. A peck of
pills per day is considered necessary for Boston, and half a bushel
for New York. On an average, only one in twenty-five who take them
is actually sick; and the proportion of those dispensing with some
necessary of life to purchase nostrums, which do them a positive
injury, is in the ratio of eighty-seven to every one hundred throughout
the country.
[7] Dr. Petit found the crystalline in the eye of a man eighty years of
age so yellow as to resemble amber.
“When exposed to heat it becomes soft, swells, bubbles up, is apt to
take fire, and burns with a yellowish flame.”—_Heron’s Chemistry._
“It gives out electricity by friction. It is an indurated vegetable
juice, and not produced by the laws of crystallization, but by the
same causes which influence the mechanical condition of gum arabic,
and other resinous substances. Insects are often found embedded in
it.”—_Parkes’s Chemistry._
It is a fact, that to silence such objections, a great improvement in
amber, very pure and costly, was announced; this was nothing more nor
less than yellow plate-glass, the same as is used in stained-glass
windows. I have several specimens of these “superlative patent amber”
in my possession.
[8] Dr. Neill Arnott.
[9] Dollond—Curtis.
CHAPTER V.
“Nothing extenuate or set down aught in malice.”—SHAKSPEARE.
Some instances which have come under my own cognizance will illustrate
the way in which gross imposition is practised, and the public morals
materially injured, by weakening confidence in those who are, from
their education and rank, looked to as guides and preceptors, and
causing the mind to turn with indignation from the needy, but debased
and grovelling creatures, who resort to any means, however infamous, to
effect their selfish purposes.
A military gentleman, of Stonehouse, was waited upon by a renowned
optical quack, who, the moment he entered the parlour, exclaimed,
“Goot Got, Sar! vy, you are a’goin plind; the sight is leaving your
left eye! If you don’t immejartly take to my improved classes I vill
not answer for the konserkences; kataract will grow on it in a month!”
The gentleman, taken by surprise, tried on some of the _preservers_,
and finally purchased two pairs of hand-folding spectacles, for which
he paid four pounds. Some time after, they were more particularly
inspected, and proved to be common glass, instead of pebbles, as was
represented, and of much stronger focus than the eyes required. The
full London retail charge for _such_ articles is 10_s._ per pair.
In the same town the same _distinguished_ individual forced his way
into the study of a reverend gentleman, and alarmed him by a similar
prognostication. A pair of the “clarified crystals, ground by a
peculiar process,” were purchased, price fifteen shillings. Afterwards,
upon finding that one eye was irritated, and derived no assistance
from the spectacles, the gentleman called upon the optician who had
always previously supplied him, and was convinced of the trick which
had been put upon him. They were common machine-worked glasses, each
of a different focus, and neither of them suitable to his sight. Their
proper price, sold in their proper place (viz., by hawkers, in the
streets,) is one shilling per pair!
A gentleman of Norwich, struck with the advantages promised by some
extraordinary spectacles, paid two guineas for a pair of blue steel,
with blue glasses, which were warranted pebbles,[10] and had the
additional vexation to be severely censured by several friends, who
complained that the fellow had fixed them with similar trash by
representing that he (the gentleman) had said, “After you leave mine,
do you go down past the Norfolk Hotel, and say I bid you to call on Mr.
and Mrs. ——, to sell them spectacles such as I have bought.” This, of
course, was a manœuvre of the cheat himself.
A gentleman, of Tavistock, purchased a pair of silver spectacles,
declared to be very fine pebbles, price thirty-five shillings; they
were merely glass; and as he required a glass in an old pair of
spectacles, the pompous hawker offered to _oblige_ him by putting one
of his “clarified lenses” to match the focus: for this he charged five
shillings and sixpence. It was two inches different in focal length
to the original glass! which would have been properly matched, by any
resident optician, for one shilling!
One of the hawking tribe called at the residence of Major C——, near
Hereford, and represented that M——, Esq., had ordered, on the previous
day, two pairs of spectacles, and desired him to call upon his friend,
the major, to suit him also. In this case the attack was parried; and,
spite of the hawker’s vehement declaration, that the eyes were in a
terrible state, he was dismissed, “to call again to-morrow.” Thus the
major preserved his eyes, and saved his money. In the evening he saw
his friend, and inquired if he had sent a fellow to his house with
spectacles? “No,” was the reply, “but you sent him to _me_; for he came
this afternoon, saying you had bought two pairs, and wished me to have
some of the same kind; therefore, I bought two pairs, and paid him the
price he said _you_ gave, viz., three pounds, ten shillings, though at
first he wanted four guineas!”
A naval captain, residing at Monmouth, showed me a pair of silver
spectacles with six-inch focus glasses, very jagged and splintered at
the edges, worth at most twelve shillings, for which he had given one
of the tribe of impostors two guineas, and a pair of tortoiseshell
(which _did_ suit his sight) into the bargain.[11]
A lady at Belfast was attracted by the showy advertisement of an
itinerant optician, and called upon him, “between the hours of ten and
six,” for the purpose of purchasing a pair of spectacles. The first
thing he did, after staring at her, and impudently declaring that her
eyes were being ruined, was to snatch her spectacles from her face,
and put a pair of his own in their place. “There, Matam! they are the
spattacles for your eyes, those you have peen vearing vill pring on
kataract.” “I see pretty well in these,” said the lady, “but my own
suit about as well, I think.” “Oh dear no, it’s quite a mistake, your
own are retched; put them on—isn’t there a differench now, Matam?”
“Yes, there is,” said the lady, (who had too much penetration for the
pedlar) “they require cleaning after having been held in your hot hand
all this time;” and taking up a washleather she wiped the glasses,
and, replacing them, bade adieu to the _testimonialed_ optician.
A lady, who was visiting for a few weeks at Margate, was startled one
morning, by a big, blustering, shewily-dressed man, who, after knocking
at the street door, pushed past the servant, and rapping loudly at the
parlour door opened it without waiting for any reply. “Goot morning,
Matam, I am the optician to the royal family; your friend, Lady W——,
terives so much goot from my pellucit lenses, she peggd me to call and
suit you.” Before all this had been uttered he had taken a package from
a confederate, dressed as a livery servant, who accompanied him, and
covered the table with his stock. “Your eyes are in a most alarming
state Matam, this pair of cold spattacles will suit you.” “Really,”
said the lady; “how came Lady W—— to suppose I wanted spectacles? I
have never worn any at any time in my life.” “No, that’s the vary
reason your sight is leaving you; your eyes are vary pad.” “What is the
price of this pair?” inquired the lady. “Three guineas” was the answer.
The price was paid; and after punishing her eyes for a few days, the
lady met with a scientific friend who convinced her that they were
totally unfit and improper for her, her eyes being in excellent order,
and not requiring spectacles at all!
A gentleman, visiting at Canterbury, in 1834, was induced through the
representations of the same notorious cheat to purchase a pair of
spectacles, which were warranted to dissipate the cataract forming
in his eye; the price paid was five pounds. As he was lamenting the
terrible state in which he was informed his eyes certainly were
(although, strange to say, he was quite unconscious of it) another
pair was placed upon his nose, which, he was told he ought to wear as a
change, in case the eyes were pained by the efforts of the first pair
to dissipate the cataract. Another five pound note was handed over to
the hawker, who began to grow quite pathetic; and artfully alluding
to the services of the gentleman during the war, and expatiating upon
a few circumstances with which he had made himself acquainted in a
chat with one of the gossips at the public house where he lodged, he
pretended to lament the necessity for the gentleman staying within
doors. “What, may I not take a walk or ride as usual? I can’t endure
being cooped up within doors.” “There’s danger in your going out,”
said the pedlar, “except your eyes are guarded with green Refractive
Preservers.” “Oh, bless me,” said the gentleman, “that’s very serious;
then you really think I ought to have another pair for walking and
riding, eh?” “Oh certainly, by all means; nothing else can save your
eyes, unless you confine yourself within doors.” “What’s the price of
such a pair of preservers?” “Six guineas, Sir; but as you have bought
the others you shall have them for five pounds.” “Why, dear me, I shall
be ruined in buying spectacles, and yet I never felt that I wanted them
before.” “That’s just the vay, ven the eyes are a’going blind it comes
on all at once, my tear Sir.”
By this transaction the pedlar actually pocketed three five pound
notes. In less than a week afterwards the first two pair were sent
to me to have the yellow coloured glasses exchanged for white lenses
of four degrees less magnifying power; the price at which the whole
three pairs could have been purchased elsewhere would be forty-five
shillings.
It will scarcely be credited that the individuals who thus practise on
the public are grossly ignorant; and were it not that the anxiety of
the purchasers to possess something extraordinary renders them liable
to imposition and allays suspicion, such shallow pretensions never
would pass undetected.
One of the tribe, who, until lately, practised the art and mystery
of his forefathers as a dealer in old clothes, suddenly changed his
_profession_, and, calculating the chances to be two to one in his
favour, ventured, neck or nothing, to blazon himself forth as an
experienced, scientific, and practical optician. A book, bearing his
name as its author, and sundry special appointments, obtained by
dint of the most brazen assurance and persevering importunity, were
ostentatiously paraded before the wondering eyes of her majesty’s
liege subjects. The public are stultified, and the eminent individual
himself, is almost astonished that the scheme should take, and like the
“Fly preserved in amber, wonders how the d—— he came there.”
There are artists in his locality who can give many _graphic_
illustrations of the disregard to truth, violation of friendship, and
cunning perversion of facts, of which this individual has been guilty,
and yet no one has a greater array of eminent names and testimonials to
show—many signatures of really clever men having been obtained by some
means or other. Surely there is much piquancy and truth in the Spanish
proverb: “those who know most are oftenest cheated.”
FOOTNOTES:
[10] Pebbles, it is scarcely necessary to say, are colourless.
[11] This gentleman stormed most lustily when made aware of the trick
which had been practised upon him, and threatened legal exposure to the
“professional optician.” But this course is seldom resorted to, the
dupes recollecting that, while they publish the swindler’s villainy,
they give us but an indifferent idea of their own discernment, beside
the uncertainty and incongruity ever attendant upon Law, thus quaintly
sketched by Bentham;—“If a man give you a black eye, you make him pay
for it, but if he put your eye out, you get nothing; and whatever is
taken from him goes nominally to the queen—really to John Stokes or
Jack Nokes who have no concern at all in the matter. If a man kill your
pig, you get the value of it, but if he kill your wife or your child,
you get nothing—if any thing is got out of him it goes to a stranger,
as before. A man sets your house on fire, if by misfortune, you receive
amends, if through malice, you receive nothing.”
CHAPTER VI.
“See, arm’d with great authority, they come,
And with great names and numbers strike us dumb;
Reason and common sense to names must fall,
And strength of argument’s no strength at all.”—DODSLEY.
I will now produce a few specimens of Puffing Advertisements, which
will show how sounding words are senselessly strung together to give an
air of importance to their originators, and leave my readers to judge
for themselves how far the public ought to be influenced by them. The
orthography (?) of these puffs is, in every way worthy of the authors
of them. They are given _pure_.
PUFF, No. 1.
Improved Eye Preservers, patronized by the Faculty of the Eye
Infirmaries for Cataract, and other improved glasses.
Mr. —— optician to the Queen,[12] Her Royal Highness the Duchess of
Kent, &c. sole Inventor of Optical Glasses, ground and shaded on
the Exact[13] Principle. Mr. —— has been for twenty-five years a
manufacturer, who has devoted his study with time to bring this branch
to perfection. Mr. —— has been earnestly solicited to pay a short
visit for a limited period. He has the honour to announce his arrival
from the London, Bristol, and Edinburgh Optical Establishments.
Spectacles for far and near distances, for those who have a full eye,
ground in a peculiar manner.
Sight is often abused by inexperienced persons taking upon themselves
the impracticable task of assisting it.
The Improved Spectacles, and other glasses, made by Mr. —— on the
authority of professional gentlemen, are the very best ever invented;
they have gone through a different process, which clarifies and makes
them the greatest improvement ever heard of by candle light or dull
day.
Mr. —— can tell by the physiology and figure of the eye when to give
the greatest assistance. His glasses are of a refractive quality;
so constructed as to effect the greatest relief; manufactured by
machinery of a new construction, and by a peculiar way. Turbid glasses
destroy the cornea and iris of the eye, and harbingers all ocular
diseases.
*** A book will be given for the use of the Improved Spectacles and
advice for all diseases.
Sight is injured by buying Spectacles of Shops, or other _chance_
places of sale, totally unacquainted with vision.
Ladies and Gentlemen whose eyes are weak will, by using these
extraordinary Spectacles for two or three hours a week, find their
matchless qualities, as they are ground in a peculiar way.
Mr. —— will call with a large Assortment.
LICENSED HAWKER, NO. ——
*** This Circular will be called for.
PUFF, No. 2.
The sight of the aged assisted by the Improved Spectacles, upon
unerring principles.
Persons have been going round copying Mr. ——’s Bill, who is the only
real original manufacturer of them?[14] it has been the cause of
many persons nearly losing their sight, Mr. —— has had fifteen years
practice on the eye: there is such a monstrous difference in these
improved glasses, that one pair will serve a person his whole life.
The sight of the aged assisted, the weak strengthened, and the perfect
improved, by Mr. ——’s improved spectacles.
Spectacles for those who have a full eye; the glasses are ground
in a peculiar manner. Blindness has took place from the ignorance
of persons wearing the glasses in common use, owing to the glasses
_drawing_ the eyes. These glasses are highly recommended by
professional gentlemen, who view them to be the greatest improvement
ever known; they have gone through a different process, which
clarifies them, and makes them the greatest improvement by candle
light or dull day, qualifying you to see the greatest length of time
at one sitting; those persons whose eyes are weak, by using a pair of
those extraordinary preservers for two or three hours will find they
are ground in a peculiar manner.
A treatise will be given for the use of the Improved glasses, with
advice gratis for all diseases of the eye. Mr. —— flatters himself he
can perform the most difficult cures in the sight with the greatest
ease; there is no complaint of the eye but he is acquainted with. Mr.
—— cautions the public against a person who is selling Spectacles
which pretend to be his.
Mr. —— will call with a large Assortment of Improved glasses, which
will give satisfaction.
LICENSED HAWKER.
PUFF, No. 3.
Caution against a person taking the name of Messrs. ——, the
professional opticians: and imposing upon ladies and gentlemen in
selling shameful spectacles, as Messrs. —— improved, and charging
forty shillings, while Messrs. —— only charges for the same twenty
shillings, or, with pebbles, only fifteen shillings.
PERMANENT RELIEF
for all disorders effecting the eyes, and cases of dimness. Were it
necessary,
A HOST OF CASES
might be named by which persons, distinguished, have, by their
improved scientific and successful using of their
IMPROVED GLASSES
been much benefitted. The honourable patronage noticed at the head of
this article, and their hourly increasing patronage, are proofs of
their great skill and talent for
ALL DISORDERS OF THE SIGHT.
They have the honour to be professionally consulted by the chief
families in the empire. Imperfect sight can only be handled properly
by those who by deep study have a talent for
THE ORGANS OF SIGHT.
Many people injure their sight by buying improper spectacles, whereas
it is
THE ESPECIAL OBJECT
of Messrs. —— to rest the claim of patronage on those numerous persons
of the first quality.
THE NOBILITY AND GENTRY
May be suited with Spherical Pellucid Glasses, of every class,
according to their exalted rank.
THE MERCANTILE AND LABOURING CLASSES
may have their daily toil sweetened by these improved glasses;
administered, in cases of distress, on terms accommodating to their
situations in society.
LICENSED HAWKER, No. ——, A.
PUFF, No. 4.
For a short time only.
Mr. ——, Optician to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
——, King and Queen of ——, has the honour to inform the nobility and
visitors of ——, he has arrived from the London Royal Eye Infirmary,
for a short time only. A reference to the distinguished patronage he
boasts, will convince the public he possesses great skill in the Optic
Line, and is without a parallel when such organs as the eyes is liable
to evils from common glass and pebbles, one being no better than the
other! It is his imperative wish to guard the public against them;
therefore, he announces his stay will be for a short period.
LICENSED HAWKER, No. ——, B.
PUFF, No. 5.
MAY BE CONSULTED,
Mynheer ——, Practical and Professional Optician, Surgeon-Oculist and
Surgeon-Dentist, announces his arrival. In all recent or chronic
weakness, a perfect cure is his far-famed Keysell Spectacles, which
have the density and translucency of a diamond, and refractive
preserving powers, being composed from rare crystals, produced
from the Carpathian Rocks, so highly recommended by the faculty.
Mynheer M —— being based upon the greatest perfection which the
dento-chirurgical art can be carried, can renovate all decay by
his succedaneum, which all the faculty of the continental cities
recommend. In two seconds it removes pain, and lasts many years.
But it is to the Keysell Spectacles and Terrence Teeth that he would
_draw the eyes_ of his friends to: they are fixed in the mouth so
that it is impossible to remove them without wires. They increase the
beauty by their elegant matchlessness.
LICENSED HAWKER, No. ——
PUFF, No. 6.
POSITIVELY FOR THIS WEEK ONLY.
Messrs. —— have succeeded, after fifteen years’ professional practice,
and devoting their whole lives to the optic line, in bringing out
a wonderful translucency for the organs of sight, coupled with a
conductor for deafness. This wonderful discovery brings faulty hearing
to perfection. They are so arranged and combined with scientific
principles, with the long practice of the inventors, that they will
allow such an extent of relief that will quite astonish every beholder.
They are anxious not to be confounded. There are other people who
pretend to the skill of Messrs. ——, therefore the public are liable
to be imposed upon. Inferior spectacles can be had of persons calling
themselves opticians, but Messrs. —— think it is scarcely necessary to
state, that their improved Translucency for Spectacles, and Conductors
for Deafness, are manufactured under their own eyes, upon spherical
principles.
LICENSED HAWKERS, No. ——
One of the Firm may be professionally consulted from 10 to 6.
PUFF, No. 7.
IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
Mr. ——, Professional Optician, patronized by the faculty of London,
Brighton, Bath, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Paris.
Spectacles ground and shaded on the exact principle of truth, by Mr.
——, the celebrated Optician from the London Optical Establishment,
established for a number of years.
Mr. ——, in consequence of the flattering encouragement he received
from the first families, he has established himself here for a short
time. He has made the study of vision his own, and can remedy any
organic defect, neglect, disease, or imperfection. Many individuals of
rank and royalty acknowledge the immense improvement. Mr. —— will send
a treatise, explaining every thing in the line, to every house, and
will attend himself with a splendid quantity of improved glasses.
As several persons travel through the country in his name, he begs
the public to look at his patronage at the top of his circular. He
is the sole Inventor of the Improved glasses. They have gone through
an elaborate process, they are therefore clarified and pellucid. They
throw a clearer light, and more brilliant than any others.
*** At home from 2 till 6.
LICENSED HAWKER, No. ——
_Please to observe the brass plate in the window._
How often, too, accompanying such advertisements as the preceding, do
we find paragraphs, in the laudatory style, to some such effect as the
following (see also page 44). It requires but little penetration to
arrive at a conclusion as to who are the authors of them.
PUFF PARAGRAPH, No. 1.—We again call the attention of our readers
to Mr. —— and his valuable assortment of Spectacles. They are
manufactured with extraordinary care, and constructed upon the
strictest scientific principles. M. —— has for a long period past
devoted his attention exclusively to that important branch of
optics—the human eye;—and the proficiency he has attained of the
complicated structure of that noble organ has enabled him to adapt
glasses to every degree of defective vision. But the highest panegyric
which can be pronounced upon the skill of this artist, is the
unprecedented number of applications which have been made to him.
Our readers will observe, that his stay is restricted to a few days.
* * * * *
PUFF PARAGRAPH, No. 2.—We have more than once had occasion to allude
to the surreptitious conduct of individuals, who are eager to profit
by the established reputation of our resident opticians, Messrs. ——,
who are about making arrangements for visiting all the neighbouring
towns, making this place their permanent residence.[15]
The “Messrs. ——,” the “resident,” the “distinguished,” decamped at the
expiration of three weeks.
FOOTNOTES:
[12] The royal arms appear at the head of this elegant announcement.
(Query) Ought not the proper authorities to prohibit such vile use
being made of the name of royalty.
[13] Query—_Exaction_ principle.
[14] Were those individuals really _manufacturers_, they would not
require a Licence to vend their articles. See Act of Parliament, 50
Geo. III. cap. 41, sec. 23. enacts: “Provided always, and it is hereby
enacted, that nothing in this Act shall extend to prohibit any person
or persons from selling any printed papers, licensed by authority,
or any fish, fruit, or victuals; nor to hinder the _real worker or
workers, or maker or makers_ of any goods, wares, or manufactures
of Great Britain, or his, her, or their children, apprentices, or
known agents or servants usually residing with such real workers or
makers only, from carrying abroad or exposing to sale, and selling by
retail or otherwise, any of the said goods, wares, or manufactures
of his, her, or their own making in any mart, market, or fair, and
in every city, borough, town corporate, and market town. Nor any
tinkers, coopers, glaziers, plumbers, harness makers, or other persons
usually trading in mending kettles, tubs, household goods, or harness
whatsoever, from going about and carrying with him, or them, proper
materials for mending the same.”
[15] It is gratifying, however, to find that many editors of newspapers
repudiate the iniquitous system, perceiving that their readers might
justly look upon them as participators in the fraud.
One of the puffing, _professional_ licensed hawkers entered the
office of the Reading newspaper, and with the authoritative air of an
Alexander, desired that his announcement should appear in the front
column, and the _usual_ laudatory paragraph in another part of the
paper. He was informed that his advertisement could be inserted, but
that the proprietors had determined never to admit such insidious
clap-trap notices, which, while they injured the resident tradesman,
and were looked upon as the _bona fide_ opinions of the editor,
generally referred to matters of which he could not honestly express
a favourable opinion. The pedlar stood aghast! “What,” said he, “not
put in a paragraph? Why, I’d sooner pay for a good paragraph than care
about the advertisement at all.”
His _professional_ visit was of unusually short duration, finding it
impossible to bribe the press to trumpet forth his praise.
CHAPTER VII.
“It is a strange thing to behold what gross errors and extreme
absurdities men do commit for want of a friend to tell them of
the same! The help of good counsel is that which setteth business
straight.”—BACON.
I have, for many years, visited nearly every town in the kingdom,
on commercial pursuits, at intervals of six months; and wherever I
have met with the brazen advertisers alluded to, I have issued public
notices, and inserted counter-advertisements, to put my friends and
the public on their guard against such egregious imposition. Such
a step, spiritedly carried out, has uniformly proved successful,
and the notable pretenders have decamped from Bath to Norwich, from
Brighton to Carlisle, sometimes assuming other names, or changing the
initial letters; as S. and E., who had been vapouring away at Norwich,
suddenly flitted to Margate, and there announced themselves as C. and
B., the celebrated opticians from the Royal Eye Infirmaries, &c. &c.
For low cunning and unprincipled trickery, such adventurers as I have
described, stand unrivalled. Upon several occasions they have echoed my
cautions, and copied, word for word, remarks levelled at themselves;
hoping thus to shield themselves from detection, and confuse the public
in identifying them; as the pick-pocket, when the hue and cry is
raised of stop-thief, joins in the shout, in order to allay suspicion.
It is in the provincial towns that such persons are most successful;
the game is seldom played in the metropolis with so much effect; and
although some of the tribe have been lately launching forth dashing
advertisements in the London papers, it is understood to be with the
design of attracting country customers, and overwhelming their dupes
with an idea of their _professional_ importance, rather than with the
expectation of effecting sales in London.
When they sally forth to “fleece the natives,” who would think of
questioning the abilities of such renowned opticians, armed with
testimonials, credentials, and certificates! _so_ recommended by the
newspapers, and patronized by such eminent practitioners?!!
The fair trader would defend himself at the same time that he unmasked
imposture, and protected his customers, if, when his neighbourhood is
infested by such mountebanks, he advertised the simple truth. He would
assuredly find
“That those base slaves, ’ere yet the fight be done, pack up.”
A few extracts from the advertisements I have inserted in the London
and provincial journals may be useful as specimens.
“Spectacle swindlers are now practising deceptions upon the public
to an unparalleled extent! They are principally wandering tribes of
licensed hawkers, who change their names, or shift their residences,
as occasion requires; copy the language of honest men, and puff off,
as their own inventions, the very articles, which, without a shade of
difference, have been regularly made and sold for above two hundred
years. To accomplish their designs of fleecing the public, they
resort to the most pompous and extravagant eulogiums on the peculiar
virtues of their ‘Saxon Crystals!’ ‘Patent Preservers!’ ‘Tinted
Amber!’ and ‘Light Refractors!’ ridiculous terms, which _they have_
invented, and which, embellished with a long list of distinguished
names, are calculated to entrap, and impose upon the uninitiated.
“Spectacle wearers, beware! those tricksters, with all their lofty
pretensions, are ignorant quacks. Their charges for the trash they
foist upon you, are beyond all precedent, enormous!
“The flagrant impositions daily practised on Spectacle wearers, by
hawkers and ignorant pretenders, imperatively demand exposure. The
boasting charlatans are certainly indebted to the silence of practical
opticians for their successful career, since persons requiring optical
aid eagerly listen to whoever promises most. To those who have been
victimized not another word is necessary to direct their choice,
but experience calls on all who need optical remedies to profit by
advice, and procure such important scientific instruments only of
the known working optician or his resident agent, and thereby insure
every advantage—better quality, lower charges, a liberal trial, and an
exchange if not approved of.”
* * * * *
“The patronage such individuals quote has never been bestowed, or has
been surreptitiously obtained. Mr. C. has documents from celebrated
oculists stating this fact most unequivocally, and authorizing him
to give publicity thereto. He has the gratification of knowing that
his efforts to expose such fraudulent delusions, to defend the fair
trader, and to protect the public, have been properly appreciated
by the reflecting and intelligent, who perceive the impropriety of
countenancing persons who resort to falsehood, misrepresentation, and
dishonest artifices; and allow the superior claim of the respectable
resident shopkeeper, whose charges are fair, whose desire and interest
it obviously must be to supply the article which will suit and to make
any exchange or alteration if required.
“Beware of the tricksters who blazon forth their pretended discoveries,
in terms which, however absurd and ridiculous, nevertheless catch
the attention; and combined with an array of great names, unbounded
assurance, and various manœuvring devices, enable them to foist their
worthless wares upon purchasers at the most exorbitant prices.
“Such charlatans are the pests of science, and speculators on the
credulity of society.
“Mr. C. feels assured that his friends, and the public generally, will
remark the necessity there is for some one, practically acquainted
with the science of optics, to come forward and state the real facts
of the case, at a time when bombast and chicanery, supported by the
most shameless falsehoods, are put forth by itinerant hawkers and
pedlars—the pretended discoverers of a superior method of constructing
glasses for spectacles. He is anxious to expose such deceptions, and
to protect the Spectacle wearer from the gross frauds and impositions
continually practised in the sale of Spectacles at enormous prices,
although made of the cheapest material, and in the most inferior manner.
“Such Spectacles are productive of endless annoyance to the wearer;
and, instead of rendering any assistance are instruments of torture,
producing the most serious consequences to the sight, owing to their
imperfect construction and the misapplication of their powers to the
purposes required.
“Persons requiring Spectacles are earnestly recommended to seek advice
and assistance from opticians or their agents, of known respectability
and experience, who are capable of judging what kind of lenses are
necessary in each particular case: and to avoid those charlatans whose
ignorance of optics is only equalled by their impudence, in obtruding
themselves into houses, and alarming the occupiers by declaring that
they perceive serious defects in their eyes, the formation of cataract,
incipient blindness, &c., in order to give an exalted idea of the value
of the remedies they offer.”
* * * * *
“T. H., Watch and Clock maker, agent to Cox, optician of London, begs
to caution his friends against the impositions of itinerant hawkers,
who boast of exalted patronage, wonderful discoveries, and superior
skill in optics, professing to suit the sight by merely examining ‘the
figure of the eye.’ Such individuals frequently enter into respectable
houses, and terrify ladies and gentlemen by declaring that they
perceive serious defects in their eyes, and, of course, that nothing
can avert the evil but their wonderful Spectacles; sometimes pretending
that their only motive in calling is from their wish to relieve mankind
from the chances of losing their sight, and to enable them to see as
well at fourscore years of age as at twenty, while their main object
is to fill their pockets at the expense of those who have fallen into
their snare.
“The fallacy of their statements may always be ascertained by the
parties taking medical opinion of known value, and consulting a
respectable optician.
“It cannot be too generally known that the best glass lenses,
constructed on the most accurate principles, suited to the purposes of
vision, and worked by hand, can be had of all respectable opticians,
at from one shilling and sixpence to three shillings per pair, shewing
that there can be no occasion for persons, who require a change of
glasses in their spectacles, to pay a guinea or thirty shillings, and
give up their old pebbles or glasses into the bargain.
“A trick was practised at Brighton, during the season of 1834, which
shews that those certificated gentry do not hesitate at trifles.
“Two Jews, licensed hawkers, inserted glowing advertisements in the
Brighton newspapers, couched in their usual bombastic style, but naming
_one gentleman_ only as having taken up his residence at Brighton, and
stating that he would wait upon the nobility and gentry with a splendid
stock of his _wonderful_ and _improved_ Spectacles.
“A man called at the houses of the gentry, made many sales at the
usual swindling prices, and disarmed all suspicions by inviting the
purchasers to call at his residence, and make any exchange they
pleased. In some cases, where the price was objected to, or the
parties were taken by surprise, not having suspected that they wanted
Spectacles until this _experienced professional optician_ told them
they did, they were, notwithstanding imposed upon, ‘for,’ said he,
‘to prove that I am anxious to preserve your sight, which is rapidly
leaving you, and cataract is growing in your eyes, these Spectacles,
which are five pounds per pair, I will leave you at half-price, and
you may pay me the balance at any time.’ This offer appeared so very
liberal that it succeeded in several instances, and, it is scarcely
necessary to say, left to the hawker forty shillings profit, five
pounds being only mentioned to get more easily the smaller sum.
“But the most profitable part of the scheme is yet to be told. Those
who purchased soon found that something was wrong—the patent preservers
gave great uneasiness to the eyes, which, suffused with tears, seemed
to grieve at the simplicity and credulity of their owners. The
residence of Mr. —— was besieged with complaining purchasers, who,
when their turn arrived, were ushered into the presence of the other
of the partners, and as the person who had sold them the Spectacles
promised to make any exchange they required, they asked for a pair
which would suit their sight, or a return of the money paid. The man
they now saw looked at them, and asked, ‘Am I the person who sold you
the spectacles?’ ‘Why, no,’ was the reply, ‘I cannot say you were the
gentleman, but he was uncommonly like you, and he told me he would
exchange the Spectacles if they did not suit.’
“‘Then you had better find him and compel him to do so, for the trash
he has sold you will destroy your eyes and ruin your sight. He is an
impostor; I know nothing of him.’ ‘Bless me,’ said the disappointed
purchaser, ‘what a scandalous shame! what would you advise me to do
now, Sir?’
“‘Why, _my_ Spectacles are produced after twenty years of deep study
and research, and manufactured, under my own eyes, upon improved
principles, yet I only ask fifty shillings per pair; but I am sorry for
you and though those you have bought are vile rubbish, I will take them
in exchange, and thirty-five shillings for my Patent Tinted Crystals,
which are the only Spectacles proper for the eyes.’ Thus the reader
will perceive a double imposition was effected. A., after performing
his part in the scheme of deception, kept out of the way until B. had
completed the fleecing of the nobility, gentry, and public, and in a
few weeks the _resident_ opticians were on their way to other places,
chuckling at their success, and inventing fresh plans of operation.”
* * * * *
Page after page has been pirated from the works of eminent authors,
and palmed upon the public as their own composition; consequently,
though the advice may be excellent, the parties from whom it appears to
emanate are vile plagiarists, whose _practice_ is quite uninfluenced
thereby. When imposture disguises itself in such a plausible form the
difficulty of detection is increased, therefore our best security
against deception is to transact business with men of known reputation.
The resident tradesman has a character for fair and honourable dealing
to maintain. He can be appealed to if any exchange or alteration is
requisite, and the spirit of fair competition, now abroad, is the best
security against overcharge from him; while the itinerant vender and
pompous advertiser has to repay himself for such forced and expensive
means of getting custom by exacting great prices, pushing off coarse
and inferior goods, and practising any dishonest trick rather than not
effect a sale of his wares. It may be said, with great truth, “his
articles are not cried up because they are things that ought to be
desired, but they are desired because they are generally cried up.”
The Liverpool Mercury of Friday, Sep. 15th, 1834, has some remarks
on this subject, which, as they are important and appropriate to our
purpose, I transcribe:—
“We beg to caution our readers against the arts of all those who
profess to supply the public with superior Spectacles; we have been
for many years connected with the business, and we can assure the
public that the Spectacle glasses sold by the advertising eye quacks
are precisely the same as those provided by any respectable optician,
the only difference being in the price. The charlatan varies his
charge according to the gullibility of his dupes; sometimes he puts
up with double the proper and regular price, but more frequently he
exacts three or four times more than a regular and honest optician
charges. We recollect a once famous optical quack, in London, who
made a large fortune by cheating the public. He advertised _his_
superior glasses, which he assured the public were all ground to the
true parabolic curve by his own hand, and for each of these glasses
he charged four shillings, whilst the working optician who lived a
few doors from him, and who furnished him with all his glasses, could
only get nine pence for the very article for which the puffing eye
doctor charged four shillings. As we knew both the parties we pledge
ourselves to the fact, and, in conclusion, we advise the public to
have nothing to do with quacks, whether they be scientific quacks, who
are plentiful enough, or other quacks, who swindle people out of their
health and cash at the same time.”
CHAPTER VIII.
“Who will, for him, may boast of sense,
His better guard is impudence.”
In the early part of the present year I addressed letters to several
gentlemen who figure in the list of patrons to the advertising
Spectacle quacks, and enclosed a copy of the advertisements in which
their names had appeared as giving unqualified approval to the
trickster’s _invention_.
From the specimens I have given of such advertisements it is
unnecessary to give a verbatim copy again here; and as the truths which
this correspondence elicits apply to one and all of the puffing tribe,
I have omitted the names of the individuals particularly alluded to,
my object being to expose a _system_ of villainy, and not to denounce
_one_ or _two_ rapacious creatures, while the rest of the clique escape
detection.
Therefore, although many of the remarks in these pages may seem to
have only a local or particular reference, they are applicable to the
whole tribe of _locusts_, and describe the species too definitely to
admit of mistake. The characters sketched are not caricatures, but,
unfortunately for the eyes of her majesty’s lieges, really exist _in
propriâ personâ_.
Feeling assured that the Duke of Wellington would rejoice to see an
exposure of such tricksters, I forwarded to him a copy of Spectacle
Secrets, and the following acknowledgment was promptly returned:—
_Walmer Castle_, _Nov. 11, 1838_.
The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Cox, and has
received his letter and the work referred to: he is much obliged to
Mr. Cox for the communication.
* * * * *
Copy of a Letter to FREDERICK TYRELL, Esq.
SIR,—The advertisement enclosed frequently appears in the daily and
weekly newspapers, to which, as your name is attached, I beg to direct
your attention, and solicit an answer to the following questions at
your earliest convenience.
1st.—Have you proved the superior efficacy of the Spectacles, (as
stated in the advertisement), and consider they merit your unqualified
approbation?
2nd.—Will you oblige me by stating what peculiar advantages you
consider them to possess over the usual Spectacles, manufactured by
the London opticians?
3rd.—Does your approval extend to all the Spectacles sold by the
advertiser, or to those which he designates Amber Spectacles only?
I remain, Sir, yours obediently,
GEORGE COX.
To Frederick Tyrell, Esq.
* * * * *
Mr. TYRELL’S Reply.
_17, New Bridge Street, Blackfriars._
_January 29th, 1838._
SIR,—In reply to your letter respecting Mr. —— I have to state, First,
That I am not acquainted with any institution which is designated “The
Royal Eye Infirmary,” to which he states that he is optician. The
Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, in Moorfields, is sometimes so called, but
Mr. —— is not optician to that institution.
Secondly, That Mr. —— has not any permission from me to make use of
my name in advertisements, as approving of any glass, spectacles, or
other articles he may either manufacture or sell. And thirdly, That I
do _not_ consider his glasses to be in any respect superior to those
manufactured by other persons in the trade.
You are at liberty to make use of this communication in any way you
deem proper to counteract Mr. ——’s advertisements.
I remain yours respectfully,
FREDERICK TYRELL.
To Mr. George Cox.
* * * * *
J. Hodson, Esq., consulting Oculist to the Eye Infirmary, Birmingham,
resolved upon coming to London to give me his disclaimer, rather than
incur any chance of misrepresentation from an unjustifiable use being
made of his signature, he being an entire stranger to me before I
addressed him upon this subject.
He authorizes me to state that Mr. —— has no authority or right
whatever to make use of his name. About four years since a man came
to his surgery, and introducing himself as the inventor of roseate
tint preservers and amber spectacles, showed him a pair in silver
frames, and, expatiating upon their wonderful properties, mentioned
the names of several leading surgeons and oculists who had inserted
their signatures in a book which he handed to Mr. Hodson, who, without
suspecting the design of the knave, added his to the list, for the
same reason, he said, that folks do so at a watering place, a library,
or as having visited or seen some particular exhibition—in fact,
because it was customary to do so. Four or five days afterwards the
same individual called again, apparently in great haste, and requested
Mr. H. to lend him two sovereigns, as he had immediate occasion for
that sum. He produced a pair of amber spectacles, and said, “I will
leave these as security until I return the money.” Mr. H. began now to
suspect the fellow, and guessed it to be very unlikely that he would
trouble himself to redeem the Spectacles (worth about twelve shillings)
if he succeeded in raising two pounds upon them; he therefore referred
him to a pawnbroker in the neighbourhood, whose business it was to
enter into such arrangements, which were, clearly quite foreign to his,
Mr. H.’s practice.
Mr. Hodson has ever since regretted having (though inadvertently)
given his signature, which, as the reader will perceive, is solicited
as a mere matter of form, and is then made the most unwarrantable use
of, involving the parties in many dilemmas, and exposing them to the
ridicule and reprehension of every intelligent observer.
The fact is, if one signature of an eminent person can be procured by
dint of false representation or plausible pretence, the rest follow as
a matter of course; thus Mr. Hodson signed his name, seeing that some
of the “heads of colleges” were there inscribed. Mr. Soden, of Bath,
gave his signature because Mr. Ledsam had given his; and Mr. Ledsam
signed because Mr. Hodson had done so.
Mr. Alexander, Oculist to the Royal Family, was waited upon by one of
the crafty crew, whose object was to get his signature at all hazards.
The fellow fawned and entreated, but was sternly resisted by Mr. A. who
showed him the door, and declared, if he presumed to make use of his
name, in his quack advertisements, he would set a solicitor to work
immediately.
Copy of a Letter from ROBERT KEATE, Esq., Surgeon in Ordinary to Her
Majesty.
_Albemarle Street,_ _July 17, 1838_.
SIR,—Although I do not consider myself bound to reply to the questions
put to me by you, being in utter ignorance of the use which you
propose to make of my answer; yet I can have no hesitation in saying
that I think Mr. —— has been guilty of an unpardonable liberty in
publishing my name, without my sanction, and more especially in
appending it to the document (a copy of which you sent to me), and
to which I have never affixed my signature. I was requested to look
at M ——’s amber spectacles, and I saw no others; and looking through
them on a day when the sun shone brightly, they appeared to me to
soften the light more than crystal or pebbles; and seeing the names of
many eminent surgeons and oculists attached to various certificates,
I wrote and signed what I have stated above, and I believe no more;
namely, that the amber spectacles seemed to _soften the light_ more
than the pebbles.[16] I am not aware of having seen any other sort;
and certainly I have not ventured to sign my _approval_ of these, or
of any others.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
ROBERT KEATE.
To Mr. George Cox.
I could give the disclaimers of other gentlemen who have been trepanned
into giving their signatures, which are afterwards so pompously paraded
by the testimonialed and certificated adventurers; but these will
suffice to illustrate the working of the system.
“A wise physician, skill’d our wounds to heal,
Is more than armies to the public weal.”—POPE.
I cannot but feel gratified, that this correspondence, while it has
substantiated my arguments, affords an opportunity for those gentlemen
to explain the real truth of the matter, and to exonerate themselves
from the contaminating connexion, which appeared to place their
reputation for that “quality called honesty” in jeopardy.
I have received several impromptu effusions from humorous
correspondents in different parts of the kingdom, where I have been and
unmasked the impositions of spectacle cheats. One says—
“They _make_ not spectacles, you say;
With that I can’t agree,
Both wife and I have worn their trash,
Now spectacles are we.”—QUIZ.
Another—
“A celebrated chemist has ascertained, by very accurate analysis, that
there is enough brass in the countenances of the spectacle men of
Duke’s Place and Petticoat Lane to make spectacle-frames for all the
spinsters in the neighbourhood.”—SATIRIST.
I have, of course, laid myself open to the furious and vindictive
hostility of those quacks, whose nefarious practices are exposed,
and whose career will be checked in proportion as this treatise is
circulated and dispassionately perused. But, secure of the approbation
of all my readers who will avail themselves of the information
contained in these pages, I may conclude with satisfaction, since
Friends I have made whom envy must commend,
And not one foe whom I would wish a friend.
THE END.
R. COTTLE, PRINTER, BASINGSTOKE.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] When the eyes are distressed and overwhelmed with light, _any_
shade or screen is viewed with satisfaction. Coloured glasses “soften
the light” more naturally, and present to the eye equal and parallel
surfaces: parasols, veils, and even opaque substances, may thus be said
to shield the eye, and “modify bright and strong light,” but it would
be as ridiculous to consider these as fit mediums for the ordinary
purposes of vision, as it is to select amber for the purpose.
Transcriber’s Notes
pg 43 Changed: and the eminent individval himself
to: and the eminent individual himself
pg 45 Changed: ground in a pecular manner
to: ground in a peculiar manner
pg 45 Changed: the only real original manufacter of them
to: the only real original manufacturer of them
pg 49 Changed: received from the first familes
to: received from the first families
pg 60 Changed: charge according to the gullibilty of his dupes
to: charge according to the gullibility of his dupes
pg 61 Changed: being to expose a system of villany
to: being to expose a system of villainy
pg 62 Changed: The Royal Opthalmic Hospital, in Moorfields
to: The Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, in Moorfields
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