RECOVERED FROM BLINDNESS. 67 



Fifthly, The operation above mentioned being much more As the depref. 

 eafy to perform than that of extraction, and it being poffible fl °" ma y b e_ 

 to fix the eye with perfect fafety during its performance, by jjf e , thefubjeft 

 means of a fpeculum oCuli, it may be undertaken at a much ™l\ e a,n earlier 

 earlier age than the latter operation ; and a chance may of 

 courfe be given to the patient, of receiving inftruction, without 

 that lofs of time which has ufually been thought unavoidable, 

 when children are born with this diforder. 



IT ought to be mentioned, that about a month after the above The fecond ope-* 

 mentioned operation on Mailer W.'s left eye, I performed f^" d ^ as JSj 

 aiimilar operation on the right eye of the fame young gentle- after the firft. 

 man. Although he behaved with great firmnefs on the firft ^ did nat reftore 

 oceafion, it was not without confiderable difficulty that his 

 head was kept fteady on the fecond. The operation, how- 

 ever, gave him very little pain, and no inflammation followed ; 

 but the opacity afterwards was not diminished.; and he did not 

 acquire any additional fight from this eye. There was an evi- 

 dent mark in that part of the capfule where the couching 

 needle pierced it ; though the aperture was too fmall to admit 

 a fufficient number of rays of light to give an idea of objects. 

 It feems probable that the want of fuccefs, in this inftance, was 

 owing to an opacity in the capfule, which was incapable of 

 being abforbed. The eye, however, is as fit to have the aper- 

 ture in the capfule enlarged, or a portion of it removed, when 

 the patient is of a proper age, as if no operation had been pre* 

 viouily performed. 



I beg leave alfo to add, that fince thefe pages were put to- Narrative of a 



gether, a cafe has come under my care, which feems to afford " fe whlQ ^ ad£} * 

 . w force to the pre* 



a confirmation of the remarks that have been offered refpect- ceding induc- 

 ing the ftate of the cataract in children, and the effects that are tions# 

 likely to be produced by the operation of puncturing the cap- 

 fule that contains it. A young lady, eighteen years old, was 

 put under my care, who had been blind from an early part of 

 her infancy. She had a cataract completely formed in both 

 eyes ; and in each there were three or four opaque fpots, 

 more white than the reft, which feemed to lie on the furface 

 of the opaque cryftalline. I punctured the capfule of each 

 with a couching needle, according to the propofition in the 

 F 2 preceding 



