DISEASE OF THE EYE, CAUSED UY THE PENETRATION OF 



CATERPILLAR HAIRS.* 



BY J. B. LAWFORD, F.R.C.S., Eng., 



(OI'IITIIALMIC SURGEON TO ST. TUOMAS'S lIOSPirAl,). 



This disease, to wliich the name " OjjJtfJtaJiuia vodosa" has been 

 given by Professor Saemisch, of Bonn, is extremely uncommon, and 

 the case, which forms the text of my ])aper, is, I believe, the first 

 instance recorded in this countr}' ; it is, however, improbable that it is 

 the first wliich has occurred. 



My patient was a lad of sixteen, who was struck in the eye by a 

 caterpillar thrown by a companion. This happened in the month of 

 September, and the caterpillar was determined to be the larva of 

 Bomhyx ruhi. 



The previously reported cases are to be found in German medical 

 literature, and all (eight in number) occurred in Germany ; the first 

 having been published in 1S83. A few additional but unpublished 

 cases have been referred to by some of the German writers. 



In all the instances in which it was possible to determine the kind 

 of caterpillar, the fox-moth larva {Bomhyx ruhi), or that of the pine- 

 moth {Bomhijx pini), was the active etiological factor ; in nearly every 

 instance the caterpillar had been thrown, in jest, at the patient by a 

 companion. 



The disease excited by the penetration of these hairs into the 

 delicate tissues of the eye is veiy grave, and in several instances has 

 resulted in serious and permanent damage to sight. It is also very 

 intractable, and runs a prolonged course ; in no single case have the 

 symptoms entirely disappeai'ed in less than six months from the date 

 of onset. In all the patients only one eye has suffered, but in one 

 unfortunate man the fellow eye was blind from other causes. The 

 disease has begun in August, September, or October in every case 

 except one ; in this it was said to have arisen in June ; and in this 

 case the larva of Bomhyx pini was the caterpillar in ([uestion. 



Two German writers have described a much slighter form of 

 inflammation of the eye, of which they have seen cases, caused by 

 irritation by the hairs of the larva of Cnethocampa processioned. 



I have placed under the microscope two hairs removed from the 

 eye of my patient ; they are both yellow-coloured, with a very sharp 

 point at the distal end, and a fractured surface at the proximal end. 



In this connection Leydig's investigations, published iu Miiller's 



* Alwtract of a piipcr read before the Ophth.'ilmologiciil Society of the United Kingdom, on 

 Juno 13th, 1805, ;it 11, Chundo.s Street, Loudon, W. 



P -1 



