The Eyes Have It

There is an unconfirmed rumor, perpetuated by countless caricatures, that more Harvard men wear glasses than do any other species of human beings. Whether or not the myopic stereotype is accurate, it is obvious that many students do wear glasses. It seems surprising, then, that the Hygiene Department has no facilities for eye care. When students catch colds, they drop in for a shot of penicillin at the Hygiene Building. When they get toothaches, they visit the clinic's complete dental facilities. But when they suffer eyestrain, they face the unhappy alternative of ruining their eyes or riding in to Boston on the MTA to see a specialist. As a result, many students delay a checkup until their original eye strain is worse.

A magnificent new Health Center, announced yesterday by the Hygiene Department, will certainly provide Harvard with modern medical facilities--including longer, before the building is finished, and the fine print of reading assignments will not get any larger in the meantime. Hygiene officials point out that equipment adequate for eye diseases and surgery, as well as routine checkups and examinations for glasses, might cost as much as $50,000. The complete facilities, however, will eventually be purchased for the new center, and could easily be transferred to the central infirmary from a temporary location. If full time eye care is too expensive for the present, the Department should at least have an optometrist visit Harvard once a week and supply him with the less costly equipment needed to fit glasses. When more uncommon disorders occur, students could go to Boston as they do now. Such a temporary eye clinic, financed through the regular Medical Fee, could offer effective method of eye care until the new clinic appears.