igoo-i.] Den^ Surgery. 27 



on the eye, seems to have the same drawing properties as a magnet has 

 on a bit of iron. 



In either case, the eye is left sore and bloody. It is now carefully 

 washed, and, as a final treatment, it is bathed with a cooled infusion of 

 the inner bark of the bear berry bush to which a little woman's milk 

 has been added. The former especially is reputed to be quite a specific 

 against any soreness of the eyes, though its mordant properties render 

 its application very trying at first. With this last preparation the 

 patient is made to retire, and, when he wakes up on the morrow, 

 he generally feels quite well. Such operations are even now quite 

 common and as uniformly successful. But I am inclined to believe 

 that, considering the primitive way they are performed, at least as 

 much credit is due to the endurance of the patient as to the skill of 

 the oculist. 



The most common form of ophthalmic trouble among the Northern 

 D^nes is snow blindness and its resulting whitening of the affected 

 pupil. A persistent haziness in the atmosphere and the refraction of 

 a strong light on the water will sometimes have the same effect on 

 persons of a delicate constitution. If allowed to develop itself 

 unhindered, this deterioration of the pupil will completely destroy the 

 sight. The Carriers' great remedy against this complaint, as in all 

 cases of soreness resulting from accidental blows or tearings, is the 

 balsam of young spruce tops (Abies nigra). The upper shoots once 

 cut off the sapling are bent and split in two and then left by the 

 fireside. After the resinous liquid they contain has been heated out, 

 the ball of the eye is gently coated therewith by means of a bird quill. 



