Report on the Ophthalmic Hospital. 61 
and Form for a Compass Needle. By Capt. Henry Kater, F.R.S, 
— XI. Notice respecting a voleanic Appearance in the Moon, in 
a Letter addressed to Sir Humphry Davy, Bart..P.R.S. By 
Capt. Henry Kater, F.R.S,—XII. A further Account of Fossil 
Bones discovered in Caverns inclosed in the Limestone Rocks at 
Plymouth, By Joseph Whidbey, Esq. In a Letter addressed to 
Sir Everard Home, Bart. V.P.R.S.—XIII. On the aériform 
Oompounds of Cliarcoal and Hydrogen; with an Account of 
some additional Experiments on the Gases from Oil and from 
Coal, By William Henry, M.D. F.R.S. &c. 
Report of the Select Committee on the Ophthalmic Hospital. 
pp. S. -8vo, 
It is with much pleasure we have perused this Report of a Se- 
lect Committee of the House of Commons, on a branch of the 
public service which has of late been the object of much jealousy, 
and, we must add, of much calumny and misrepresentation. li 
is drawn up with great clearness and ability; and it does merited 
justice to the exertions of the individual whose discoveries, or at 
least superior intelligence and skill, gave rise to and placed hin 
at the head of the Ophthalmic Establishment. 
“ The objects of this institution,” says the Committee, “ have 
been stated to us to be three. 
‘¢ First, To diffuse, generally, among the surgeons of the army, 
the knowledge of the best modes of treating the chronic and third 
stage of the disorder. 
“ Secondly, To diminish, if possible, the charge of the out- 
pensioners of Chelsea Hospital, by curing or relieving men who 
had received pensions for defective sight. 
«¢ Thirdly, To check in some degree the annual augmentation 
of the pension list, by treating men about to be discharged for 
defective sight, and by thus diminishing their claim to pension, as 
far as it might be founded upon the impaired state of their, vision. 
<‘ Your Committee are of opinion that these objects were of 
sufficient importance to justify the steps which were taken for 
their attainment. 
<¢ With respect to the first point, your Committee have the sa- 
tisfaction to find, that this, which was the most imyortant ob- 
ject, has been greatly promoted. The ophthalmia having upon 
the return of our troops from Egypt become, comparatively speak- 
ing, a new disease in this country, its proper treatment was at 
first imperfectly understood. It appears, however, that the at- 
tention of the Medical Department of the army has of late years 
been most successfully directed to this subject, and that the best 
modes of treating all the different stages of the ophthalmia are 
now well understood and practised in the army ; and your Com- 
inittee 
