Category:
Eyes and Vision

Follies of the Madmen #491



"Our gum will alter your irises!"

Source.

Posted By: Paul - Fri Oct 16, 2020 - Comments (5)
Category: Body Modifications, Business, Advertising, Junk Food, 1910s, Eyes and Vision

Baby, the Seeing-Eye Cat

1946: Carolyn Swanson of Hermosa Beach, California made headlines on account of Baby, her "seeing-eye cat." Somehow she had trained him to assist her as she walked around town.

Mrs. Swanson lives at 1029 Bayview Dr. in Hermosa Beach. Any day when she goes down the street "Baby" quickly moves along the fence ahead of her, jumps to the top of the first step and slowly waves his full tail, brushing her ankle. He does not move until she begins to count out loud the first of the seven steps down. Then lightly he moves on to the bottom step, meows to tell her the path is clear and out to the sidewalk and curb he moves, and again awaits his beloved mistress. Waving that beautiful tail and brushing her ankle, he without sound tells her of the curb step, and not until the traffic is clear does he stop waving his tail so that she may know to cross. Slowly they both cross, she having confidence in her steps because "Baby" is at her side, brushing her ankle with his tail, keeping her path straight. As they approach the curb he stops, announces the curb, and after she is safely upon it they move on.
The Redondo Reflex - Dec 13, 1946


More info: life





Brattleboro Reformer - Dec 17, 1946

Posted By: Alex - Mon Oct 05, 2020 - Comments (2)
Category: Cats, 1940s, Eyes and Vision

Regained sight after fall

Another case of an improbable cure.

Eugene W. Phillips, 60, had been blind for 16 years. Then, in August 1972, he fell off his back porch, puncturing his back with a stick and hitting his head on the ground. But he also partially regained sight in one eye. His doctor concluded that the fall had jarred loose a membrane that had been covering the optic nerve.

Bonham Daily Favorite - Aug 8, 1972



Provo Daily Herald - Aug 9, 1972



Related:

Posted By: Alex - Mon Mar 30, 2020 - Comments (0)
Category: Health, 1970s, Eyes and Vision

The man whose blindness, deafness, and baldness was cured by lightning

We've reported a few cases on WU of people who have experienced accidental (and improbable) cures, such as the woman whose deafness was cured by a sneeze. One of the most famous examples of this phenomenon is the case of Edwin Robinson, who claimed that being struck by lightning cured him of his blindness and near-total deafness.

The lightning strike occurred on June 4, 1980 when he ventured outside of his home in Falmouth, Maine to rescue his pet chicken from the rain. After lying unconscious for 20 minutes, the 62-year-old Robinson awoke to find himself cured of the ailments that had plagued him since a road accident nine years earlier. An ophthalmologist who examined him, Dr. Albert Moulton of Portland, said: "There is no question but that his vision is back. He can't move his eyes, but his central vision is back... I can't explain it. I don't know who can. I know some of my peers in Washington, maybe, will say it's hysterical blindness. I can't see it. It couldn't have lasted this long. From the physical findings originally, he was definitely blind."

Edwin Robinson reads about his miraculous recovery



Later, Robinson even claimed that new hair had begun to grow on his bald head. He remarked to the NY Times, "I'm all recharged now, literally... It's coming in thick. My wife is all excited about it. I was bald for 35 years. They told me it was hereditary."

Los Angeles Times - July 5, 1980



Later, Timex took advantage of Robinson's fame to feature him in a 1990 ad. Although the messaging seems a bit confused. Once broken, but now miraculously fixed?

Also, it's hard to tell, but he doesn't seem to have a full head of hair. He must have lost it again.

Source: AdsPast.com



St. Louis Post Dispatch - June 7, 1980

Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 24, 2020 - Comments (3)
Category: Health, 1980s, Eyes and Vision

Magazine for the nearsighted

The magazine Leisure debuted in 1963. It was distributed exclusively at barbershops and featured articles intended to be of interest to male readers, on subjects such as hunting, fishing, boating, camping, golf, skiing, travel, hobbies, photography, etc. But what made the magazine unique was that all the articles were printed in extra large type. This was so that barbershop customers who took off their glasses to get their hair cut could still read the magazine.

I’ve found several newspaper articles referencing the existence of this magazine, but I haven’t been able to find any copies of it archived anywhere. It doesn’t even appear in library databases.

Eureka Humboldt Standard - Sep 18, 1963

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jan 24, 2020 - Comments (4)
Category: Magazines, 1960s, Eyes and Vision

Eyedness

Just as people are right or left-handed, they're also right or left-eyed. They use their dominant eye to look through a viewfinder or to aim a rifle.

What's your eyedness? Follow the instructions in the video below to find out.

(As noted previously on WU, people are also right or left nostriled.)



via petapixel.com

Posted By: Alex - Mon Apr 22, 2019 - Comments (1)
Category: Eyes and Vision

Dr. John Bongiovanni, the blind surgeon

“During the procedures at the hospital, the blind doctor depended on nurses and other physicians to make decisions requiring eyesight.”

So, how many decisions during surgery don't require eyesight?

Philadelphia Daily News - Mar 2, 1984



Rochester Democrat and Chronicle - Aug 26, 1984

Posted By: Alex - Sat Mar 16, 2019 - Comments (7)
Category: Surgery, 1980s, Eyes and Vision

I’ve Never Wronged an Onion

Posted By: Paul - Fri Dec 14, 2018 - Comments (0)
Category: Music, 1920s, Eyes and Vision

Eye worm art

Artist Ben Taylor drew a painting that featured “psychedelic colors and wormlike patterns inside a perfectly round circle.” Only later did he realize that he had parasitic worms in his eye, and he thinks they might have subconsciously inspired him. From The Durango Herald:

"I definitely believe that the worms had a hand in that painting,” he said, adding later: “When you kind of look into the nitty-gritty of how much of the human body actually contains your DNA versus the billions of different bacteria that live within us, you start realizing that you’re an ecology of beings that live within us.

He later adapted his painting to make it more obviously an eye infected by parasitic worms, and as a result it’s been chosen as the cover art for this month’s issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

Posted By: Alex - Mon Aug 13, 2018 - Comments (2)
Category: Art, Health, Disease, Eyes and Vision

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