Littell's Living Age/Volume 126/Issue 1625/Miscellany

New Snow-Spectacles for the Arctic Regions. — Mr. W. W. Cooper, the oculist, has devised a new kind of spectacles, the English Mechanic says, to prevent snow-blindness. It is well known that a long exposure to the glare of the intense white of the snow in the Polar regions is most harmful to the sight; to meet this difficulty, spectacles of green-tinted glass, surrounded by gauze, have been proposed. These will, however, fail in practice, as the glass part of the spectacles is liable to get dim and clouded, while the gauze and the wire, by means of which the spectacles are fastened behind the ears, will in an Arctic climate become so cold that to the human skin they will have the sensation of being made of red-hot wire. Mr. Cooper's snow-spectacles have neither glass nor iron in their composition, for they are made of ebonite, and are tied on to the head by a velvet cord. They resemble somewhat two half walnutshells fastened over the eye. Their great peculiarity, however, is that the wearer sees through a simple slit in front of the pupil of the eye. The sides of each eye-box are perforated with minute holes, in order that the wearer can get a side view of objects. These glasses will also prove useful to travellers by railway, inasmuch as they keep out the glare of the sun, and prevent the admission of dust into the eye. To engine-drivers, therefore, they would be invaluable, especially when exposed during sleet, snowstorms, or very windy weather. They are also very agreeable when reading at night by lamp or gaslight.