of Mr Charles Bell. 261 



left in the one hand of time those vain phantoms whieh she 

 destroys, and committed to the other those humble results of 

 calculation and experiment which she will not fail to spare. 



From the rhombohedral visions of Mr Brooke, we now pass 

 to the optical and physiological phantasies of Mr Charles Bell, 

 to which the sentiments in our motto bear a more peculiar ap- 

 plication. We have already attempted, by a gentle admoni- 

 tion, to conjure back these nebulosities into the mare nubium 

 in which they have been generated ; but they have returned 

 to our atmosphere with showers of mud and stones, and we are 

 again compelled, from self-preservation, either to dissipate the 

 storm, or suffer from its ravages. 



Had the speculations of Mr Bell been confined to the work 

 in which they originally appeared, their influence Avould not 

 have been widely extended ; but they have been reprinted in 

 a more popular form, and they are, besides, taught in public 

 lectures delivered to students of surgery, who cannot fail to 

 imbibe them as sacred truths, and make them the basis of a 

 rash and dangerous manipulation. The diseases of the eye have 

 been long the special field of empiricism ; and there is no branch 

 of the healing art which calls so loudly as this for an improved 

 practice, founded on a thorough knowledge of the structure 

 and functions of that important organ. We have ourselves 

 seen the needle and the lancet thrust into the interior of this 

 delicate organ, to cure diseases which were incurable, and 

 which existed only on its surface ; and we have seen defects of 

 vision treated as cases of amaurosis, when they arose merely 

 from a temporary debility in the external muscles. We can- 

 not doubt, therefore, that Mr Bell's speculations, if they shall 

 ever form an article of surgical belief, must mislead the hand, 

 as well as the judgment of the operator; and under the influ- 

 ence of this opinion, we shall examine them with a degree of at- 

 tention, which they should not otherwise have received from us. 

 1. In the third Number of this Journal, we have laid be- 

 fore our readers Mr Bell's doctrines in his own words, and we 

 endeavoured, in the most courteous manner, to demonstrate 

 their fallacy, both by general reasoning, and by direct experi- 

 ment. It did not surprise us, that Mr Bell remained insen- 

 sible to the force of these arguments ; but we were astonished 



