Blind Leading the Blind

Ralph Cross, who is blind, was faced with an unusual problem: his Seeing Eye dog was going blind, too. Ethel, a German shepherd, had been Cross's faithful guide for seven years. Six months ago cataracts dimmed Ethel's eyes; she began bumping into things, and Cross could no longer trust her in Los Angeles' heavy traffic.

When the Los Angeles Examiner ran a story about it, readers wrote in recalling that a Los Angeles eye surgeon, Dr. H. George Blasdel, had removed cataracts from his own cocker spaniel. Dr. Blasdel agreed to operate on Ethel.

Last week Ethel was back at Cross's side; when she first saw him she was so hysterical with joy it took half an hour to get her harness on. She had been fitted with modified welder's goggles (see cut). In a month Dr. Blasdel will check her eyes to see if she needs different lenses. Dr. Blasdel could do nothing for her master. Cross, now 30, lost his sight in an accident when he was 14; the optic nerve has atrophied.

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