122 Report made by Order of 



maintains that cataract is hereditary, and adduces several in- 

 stances. 



The method of treatment which SirWm. Adams seems to prefer, 

 leads him to speak of the ahsorbent facuUy of the anterior and 

 posterior chambers of the eye, and of the solvent powers of the 

 aqueous humour. He mentions several facts in support of his 

 assertion, and among others tlie folknving: Mr, Cline, a cele- 

 brated English surgeon, operating upon a cataract by extraction, 

 the point of his instrument broke, and remained in the anterior 

 chamber, vA'hers it was seen to rust, dissolve, and finaliy disap- 

 pear by the process of absorption. 



Sir Wm. Adams afterwards describes the instruments which he 

 uses for the various operations of the eye. As they do not differ 

 much from those generally employed, we shall not enter upon 

 any detail respecting them. 



bur author proceeds as follows: In operating for solid cataract 

 in adults and children, he employs the knife represented in tlie 

 plates which accompany his work, as No. 4, being a kind of 

 very narrow flat needle with sharp edges. The eye being fixed 

 by the speculum, he inserts the instrument into the sclerotica, 

 one li!ie behind the iris : the flat part being parallel to this mem- 

 brane, he makes it penetrate into the posterior chamber, and 

 afterwards into the anterior chamber until the point be very 

 close to the nasal edge of the j'upil; then turning the instru- 

 ment half round, wliich directs one of the edges of the knife 

 towards the crvstailin.e, he gives a thrust backward, so as to cut 

 in halves the crystalline and the capsule: by various move- 

 ments he afterwards cuts the two halves into several portioas, 

 taking particular care to detach the capsule and its adhesions 

 from the ciliary processes. Afterwards quickly re))lacing the in- 

 strument as it was upon entering the eye, and acting with the 

 flat side, he places the separated portions of the crystalline and 

 of the capsule in the anterior chamber, where they are after- 

 wards quickly absorbed. 



Sir V/m. Adams thinks it highly important that the capsule and 

 the crystalline should be divided at one and the same moment : 

 "Not mily,"he observes, '"• do we thereby avoid a secondary ca- 

 taract ; but it is much easier to cut the capsule than when the 

 crystalline had been previously extracted from its cavity. The 

 horizontal section of the crystalhne has the advantage of pre- 

 venting the capsule from being detached too soon from its ad- 

 hesion to the ciliary process, and the crystalline from revolving 

 upon itself, and totally passing into the anterior chamber. This 

 process has a great resemblance to that which has been some- 

 times practised in France, under the name of the process of 

 Broyement (Bruising), Fov 



