without the Assistance of Aft. iQ 



the operation was performed in this manner recovered her 

 sight, having then no longer any obstacle to hinder the rays 

 of light from arriving at the retina? 



May it not sometimes happen, that in consequence of a 

 blow, a fall, or other accidents, the crystalline undergoes 

 some alteration, from which the loss of sight soon results, 

 and at last its restoration, when the crystalline is completely 

 destroyed ? 



The celebrated Scarpa proposed, in place of extracting the 

 crystalline, to destroy it by degrees, by numerous opera- 

 tions: this method has been employed, with equal success, 

 by several of his imitators. But are there not cases in which 

 such operations, although made by the most expert opera- 

 tor, or one of the best anatomists, are rather dangerous than 

 useful? May not these operations augment an ophthalmia 

 when it exists, or even attract it when there is a predisposi- 

 tion in the eye? Would it not be better to desist from such 

 attempts, and to allow Nature, which labours also for the 

 destruction of the crystalline, to complete the work herself, 

 or at least a great part of it ? 



The remarks which we have made upon the spontaneous 

 destruction of the crystalline prove that Nature, in this case, 

 is not idle, and that she second? the views of the surgeon, 

 slowly, to be sure, but without any bad consequence. 



To conclude : — This destruction of the crystalline produced 

 by Nature is not more surprising than that which she pro- 

 duces upon other parts of the body, and which we shall 

 mention here : for instance, the destruction of the fragments 

 of the pupillary membrane, with which the opening of the 

 iris is closed, and which is torn asunder after birth. What 

 becomes of these membranous fragments ? They are decom- 

 posed, destroyed, and enter into the circulation like the par- 

 ticles of the disorganized crystalline. The destruction of the 

 entire body of the ossa longa, which takes place on their se- 

 paration for a length of time, is still more surprising. It is 

 so much so, that in subjects who have died a short time after 

 a supposed formation of such a separation, the substance of 

 the bone was alu.ost entire, while in asch us had lived a long 

 time after the disRase i sit brity b small 



ment 



