Many patients with subnormal vision who have been relegated to a nonvisual life can be rehabilitated with proper magnifying devices. While most of these devices are applicable to near-vision problems only, some are useful for distance functions. There is nothing new or mysterious about the principles and application of magnification in the problem of low vision. Nevertheless, this has been one of the most neglected fields in ophthalmology. The ophthalmological literature of the past years is comparatively devoid of articles relating to the application of magnifiers in the field of visual rehabilitation. MAGNIFICATION Anyone who does not have sufficient vision to perform efficiently his daily home or work tasks with ordinary spectacle-glass correction may be considered a candidate for low-vision aids. It is not within the province of this paper to discuss the pathology responsible for low vision. While we are accustomed to thinking of legal blindness in terms of