&lt;div class=&quot;track&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; src=&quot;http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.22.2/21259?ns=guardian&amp;pageName=From+the+archive%2C+13+October+1908%3A+Reading+in+bed+is+dangerous%2C+warns+La%3AArticle%3A1647032&amp;ch=From+the+Guardian&amp;c3=Guardian&amp;c4=Books%2CTypography+%28Art+and+design%29%2CMedical+research+%28Science%29%2CCulture%2CHealth+and+wellbeing+%28Life+and+style%29&amp;c5=Art%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHealth&amp;c6=&amp;c7=11-Oct-13&amp;c8=1647032&amp;c9=Article&amp;c10=&amp;c11=From+the+Guardian&amp;c13=From+the+archive+%28Guardian+series%29&amp;c25=&amp;c30=content&amp;h2=GU%2FFrom+the+Guardian%2FTypography&quot; width=&quot;1&quot; height=&quot;1&quot; /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;standfirst&quot;&gt;Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 13 October 1908&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The &quot;Lancet&quot; returns to its warnings against reading in bed. Dr. Hugo&amp;nbsp;Feilchenfeld, of Berlin, has recently published the results of an investigation into the effects of the practice, and he finds that the chief danger is to the eyes, for the familiar&amp;nbsp;reasons, first, that it is difficult to arrange the lighting so that it is sufficient and yet does not fall directly on&amp;nbsp;the eyes, and, secondly, that it is difficult to hold the book in an optically correct position.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is certainly a tendency to trust to a distant light, the position of&amp;nbsp;which is rarely suitable for a person&amp;nbsp;lying on one side. Then the reader,&amp;nbsp;intent on his book and careless&amp;nbsp;of his&amp;nbsp;eyesight, will continue reading&amp;nbsp;with one eye fixed on the book and the other buried in the pillow; that is the commonest mistake&amp;nbsp;of all.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These things tend to produce short sight and to aggravate it where it exists. Young people, therefore,&amp;nbsp;whose eyes are not yet set hard,&amp;nbsp;as in adult life, should avoid reading in bed if they can, and the &quot;Lancet&quot; deprecates it in all.  Probably most bed-readers will continue to indulge the vice, whether&amp;nbsp;its object is to weary the resistance of the wakeful mind by severely exercising its attention, or to&amp;nbsp;pass pleasantly into the extinction of slumber &ndash; which many people&amp;nbsp;instinctively shrink from &ndash; amid the diversions of an imaginary&amp;nbsp;world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These hardened sinners should make careful arrangements for the indulgence. It is not really difficult or expensive to fix a light candle, gas, or electric lamp, of sufficient&amp;nbsp;brilliancy, well above the head and behind it. To&amp;nbsp;keep both eyes on the book (a practical hint not given in the &quot;Lancet&quot;), rest the head at the end of a&amp;nbsp;hard pillow, and, as it were,&amp;nbsp;look&amp;nbsp;from the edge of it clear of&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;page. Perhaps some day publishers will issue bed-books &ndash; not the kind of books one ought to read in bed; one can only choose those oneself &ndash; but books suitable in typography and binding.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The ideal bed-book must open quite&amp;nbsp;flat; it must have stiff covers to prevent the page from bending, and small pages for the same reason;&amp;nbsp;it must be of very light paper so as not to fatigue the hand; the type must&amp;nbsp;be&amp;nbsp;large; the margin must be very wide, especially on the outer&amp;nbsp;sides, on one or other of&amp;nbsp;which&amp;nbsp;the book rests according to&amp;nbsp;the&amp;nbsp;side one lies on. Perhaps&amp;nbsp;most&amp;nbsp;of&amp;nbsp;these requirements&amp;nbsp;are not undesirable in&amp;nbsp;a&amp;nbsp;book for daylight reading.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;related&quot; style=&quot;float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/typography&quot;&gt;Typography&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/medical-research&quot;&gt;Medical research&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/health-and-wellbeing&quot;&gt;Health &amp; wellbeing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;terms&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk&quot;&gt;guardian.co.uk&lt;/a&gt; &amp;copy; 2011 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our &lt;a href=&quot;http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html&quot;&gt;Terms &amp; Conditions&lt;/a&gt; | &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.guardian.co.uk/help/feeds&quot;&gt;More Feeds&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;clear:both&quot; /&gt;
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