EYE, (Encycl.) A new-born child shall be observed, perhaps, never to keep its eyes fixed on any one object, but continually changing from one to another, and if you put your hand before them, the child will not wink. Hence some have thought, that new-born infants have no sight: but this is a mistake; and the true reason why their eyes are in perpetual motion is, that they have not yet acquired the habit of examining one thing at once with their eyes: their not winking at the approach of the hand, arises from their want of experience how easily their eyes may be hurt; but in a few days they get the habit of winking, so that afterwards their eyes do it spontaneously at the approach of danger.—See a description of the eye and its adjacent parts, by J. Warner.
Artificial eyes are made of concave plates of gold, silver, or glass, and are stained so as to resemble the natural eye. They must, when fixed in the orbit, be taken out and cleaned every night, and replaced in the morning. If no more of a diseased eye is removed than what is preternaturally projected, or if enough is left to preserve the muscles unhurt, the artificial eye will have a little motion from the muscles that remain. If the eye does not fit well, it irritates and inflames the other eye; in which case lay it aside, until one can be had that fits better.