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Description of a Totally Reflecting Prism, employed for illii- 

 minating the open cavities of the Body ; rvith a view to faci- 

 litate the examination of Disease^ and the application of reme- 

 dial means in such situations ; illustrated rvith an Ear *' Spe- 

 culum'''' or Prismatic Auriscope, adapted to this method of 

 observation. By Adam Warden, M.D., F.R.C.S.E. (With 

 a Plate and Woodcut.) Communicated by the Royal Scot- 

 tish Society of Arts.* 



Having been present on repeated occasions at meetings of 

 the Society of Arts, and appreciating highly their efforts to 

 give an impulse to useful observation, and to its practical appli- 

 cation to general purposes, I beg leave to present to their notice 

 a method of illuminating the open cavities of the body, whereby 

 the examination of disease and the application of remedial 

 means in such situations may be facilitated. 



As I had heard Monsieur Charles Dupin express himself to 

 the Society of Arts of Paris, " Here, in the doctrine of parallel 

 lines, the weaver and the carpenter are to see the secrets of 

 their own art, and in the various expositions every artisan is 

 to catch the application of the doctrine of his trade ;" so, in 

 listening, as a casual auditor at a late meeting of this society, 

 to some notices of the useful application of prismatic reflection, 

 an adaptation of a prism to the apparatus of surgery suggested 

 itself to me, and is now submitted to inspection. 



A short time before the meeting of this society above re- 

 ferred to, my attention was especially awakened to the diffi- 

 culty attending the management of diseases in the open cavi- 

 ties of the body, by the experienced imperfections of the exist- 

 ing apparatus of aural surgery. The object of my present 

 communication is to explain my attempt to improve that appa- 

 ratus, by a new method of throwing light upon the parts to 

 be examined, and it will readily appear that the arrangement 

 proposed is equally applicable to any of the other open cavities 

 of the body. The manifold importance of the diseases of the 

 ear, as affecting the valuable sense of hearing, and in their 



* Read and exhibited to the Society on 22d April 1844. 



