Reprinted from the Mete York Medical Journal 
for August 7. 1897. 
A TRIAL FRAME. 
By J. H. MoCASSY, M. A., M. D., 
DAYTON, OHIO. 
As shown in the accompanying cut, the author's trial 
frame consists of two separate devices, one for each eye. 
It may be attached in front of any spectacle frame or 
nose glass by the two hook clasps, 2, 2, and the spring 
clasp, 3. The latter serves to maintain the proper axis 
of the dial to the frame. The dial 4 is numbered in the 
ordinary way. 
The spring is attached to the lower segment of the 
dial by two rivets, 5, 5, and by soldering the portion 
between the rivets. The spring is grooved for the re- 
ception of the lenses or made slanting so as to hug the 
lens close to the dial. The free ends of the spring are 
thinned to render them more pliable and elastic. 
Ordinary cylinder lenses, at any angle, that may 
have accumulated in the office of the oculist by reason 
of misfits or otherwise, may have the axis marked on 
them with a diamond and utilized for testing purposes. 
Some clean fabric should be used between the thumb 
and finger in putting the lens in the trial frame and in 
changing the axis, else blurring will occur. 
In case it is necessary to combine a spherical lens 
with a cylinder, the sphere may be put in the frame in 
the ordinary way, while the cylinder lens is held in 
front by this device. 
The field of usefulness for the author's trial frame 
is in testing and fitting for astigmatism in persons who, 
Copyright, 1897, by D. Appleton and Company. 2 
A TRIAL FRAME. 
by reason of their occupation, can not spare the time 
necessary for the employment of a mydriatic, and in 
the cases where the angle and strength of the cylinders 
are doubtful or difficult to ascertain. 
In testing, the manifest should be ascertained in the 
ordinary way. If it appears that a spherical lens is ac- 
cepted the same is put into the frame. Then one or 
two or three cylinder lenses are given to the patient 
to use at home during an evening, instructing him to 
read a certain length of time with the axis of the cylinder 
at or near the angle obtained by the manifest. In this 
way the patient will ascertain by actual trial the strength 
of the lens as well as the angle most satisfactory to him. 
The proper cylinder or compound lens may now be 
ground to order. 
It is a fact known to every oculist that many pa- 
tients are confused by undergoing the test for refrac- 
tion, and are unable, while under such embarrassment, 
to give clear cut or proper answers. Consequently the 
test is defective through no fault of the oculist. Let the 
patient have the lenses, as herein suggested, in his study 
CLASP 2. 
•SPRING 
CLASP 
CLASP 2 
room at home without embarrassing or confusing sur- 
roundings, and the conditions necessary to arrive at an 
accurate conclusion are complete. In any case the pa- 
tient has to fit himself under direction of the oculist. A TRIAL FRAME. 
3 
Again, it is a recognized fact that a great many nose 
glasses either tilt or droop according to the thickness of 
the nose, which is difficult to measure, and as a result 
the angle of cylinders may vary ten to fifteen degrees 
from the prescription. Now, to obviate this, the nose 
glass could be fitted to the nose first and the " wearing 
position" ascertained; then, by means of the author's 
trial frame, the proper axis of the cylinder could be indi- 
cated in each individual case. 
126 South Ludlow Street.