The Curse Of Poor Printing

Sliort-sightcdness, or myopy, is inereasIng to an alarmlng extent" among civilized nations. It iscoinmonly supposed thatonly a few persons are thus afflicted, but the trutb ia that a large portion of every comnuinity ismoreor lesstroubled with imperfect visión. .Myopy among school children aud attcndants at higher institutions of learnlng la thll and otlier countries lias been tlioroughly investigated by Prof. Hermann Colín and a numberof otker eminent occulists, wlio have exainined la all inore than 40,000 scholars. Prof. Colín cites among the principal causes of myopy, badly constructed school benches, bad writing, and bad type. The latter evil, he says, deserves especial attcntioii, and for remedying it he tnakes sotne valmible sugestión, oí whlcll Ue Iouuwing ai e the most important: "The most important point is'the size of the letters. We cannot determine this by the meaatireinent of the cm, as the printers il", for that regards the shank of the type, of which readers know nothing; but it must be judged by a special measurement of the visible letter. I have adopted as the standard of measurement the letter u, that being thfl most regular and symmetrical in shape in both the Roman and Germán alphabets. I have found that the n In pearl type is bout three-oue-hundredths of an inch high, in nonpareil about one twentytitlhot' an inch, in brevier about one-twentieth of an inch, in long primmer one-seventeenth of an inch, and in pica one-fourteenth of an inch. We have hitherto no detinite rule concerning the smallest slze of letters which should be perinitted for the sake of the eyes. The distance at which a lettel of auy particular size can been seen does not aftbrd a gulde to it, for it does not correspoml at all with the distance at which matter printed in the same type canbe rcad steadily at the usual distance in reading. I believe that letters which are less than a millimeter and a ha!f(one-seventeenth inch) high will Ilnally prove injurious to the eye. Hou little attention bas hitherto been paid t) this important subject is excmplitied in tlie tact that even occulistic journals and ,.,...,, i, nfeh. Many of the text books required by the school autborities are badly printed. The officers should go through every school book with a millimeter rule in their hands and throw out all in which letter axe less than a millimeter and a half high, and should give the preference to those establishment which do not use letters of less than two millimeters (one tliirteentli The distance between the liaes is an important factor in respect to ease of reading. As is well known, the compositora oftn insert thin leads between the Unes so that the letters project above the average height and those that fall below the line sliall not touch. Kvery oneknows that legibility is improved by contrast; the darker the print and theclearerthe paper, so inuch easier is the reading. When the lines are close together, or the matter is prleted 'solid,' the eyes become tired soouer, because the contrast is lessened. The lines tend to run together, and the effortto separate them strains the eyes. In line editions the lines are wldely separated. I eonaldei ¦ book well leaded in which the interlinear spaee, measured by the shorter letten, araouuts to three millimeters (oneeightli inch). The lines will really seem closer, for the j)rojectioii8 of the longer letters will encroach upon the interlinear ipace) and cases may occur, where those letters predomínate, In which the space may seem to be only one millimeter. The narruw ist interval that should be permitted is, in niy opinión, two and a half millimeters In view of the formibable statistics wc have ven in regard to the prevalence of short-sightedness, t ia evident, says the Paper World, that evervthing tlmt will tend to lessen theevllshould be andertaken uithouUk'lay. ÏS'eglect in tliis matter will KMilt in everybodv's wearing glasses, and in scriously iinpeding the performance of all the world's work, cspvuially those branche which particular! reqntre the exeroise of good eyesight. In the matter of prlntinir, especlally, reform is called tbr. l'licrc is do reason whysmafl type, or type arranged In linee haring Inadequate pace between them.sliould be tolcrated, and (ha public shnuld stoutly refuse to ooantenanoi the use of any school books or patronize papers and periodlcals that are printod w Ithont regard to the best interest of the Studenta' or readers' eyes.