76 . Mr. Foote on the Use of the 
the eye. The sensation produced is acute, and continues 
for an hour or two. If the pain caused should be severe, 
cold applications are to be employed. The oil of the lemon- 
peel appears to increase thecapillary circulation, and to cause 
the absorption of morbid depositions. 
‘From experiments which have been made at La Charité 
at Berlin, it appears that the following diseases are remedied 
by this treatment: 1. Inflammations of the eye which are 
passing into a chronic state, and which affect the external 
parts, as the conjunctiva, cornea, or sclerotic, particularly if 
the small vessels are turgid. M. W. has also found the re- 
medy useful in rheumatic, gonorrhceal, and scrofulous oph- 
thalmia. 2. In pannus and pterygium. 3. In albugo and 
opacity of the cornea. 4. When the texture of the cornea 
has lost its healthy density, and becomes soft and spongy. 
The remedy may be employed frequently during the day, 
depending upon the degree of irritation it produces. M. W. 
relates seven cases of cures of various diseases of the eye 
effected by this treatment.” 
There are perhaps few persons who are unacquainted with 
the stimulant properties of the essential oil contained in the 
follicles of the bark or rind of the lemon or orange, as, in peel- 
ing these fruit, it frequently happens that a follicle or two 
burst, and a particle of the essence gets lodged in the con- 
junctiva. It was probably an accident of this kind which first 
induced Mr. Werlitz to try its powers in inflammations of the 
eye, and thus add another remedy to the list of the ophthal- 
mic materia medica. Having obtained the permission of Mr. 
Guthrie at a period far antecedent to the time when I actually 
availed myself of it, I have recently given this essential oil a 
trial at the Ophthalmic Hospital, in various inflammations, 
more especially the catarrhal, which the peculiar constitution 
of the atmosphere at the present time has rendered epidemic. 
In the majority of cases in which I applied it, | found it suc- 
cessful; in a few it appeared not to be of use, and the appli- 
cation of cupping-glasses to the temple was ultimately 
required. It generally caused pain, varying in duration from 
half an hour to three, and also in intensity in different indivi- 
duals. In one person, a gentleman of the medical profession, 
having increased vascularity of the eyelid, and who had been 
accustomed to have the vinum opii applied, it excited pain to 
such a degree that he declared his eye felt as if on fire; but 
this unpleasant symptom went off in about ten minutes; 
another person, to whose eye I applied it, said that the pain 
it occasioned was trifling, and not at all to be compared with 
that which arises from the application of the vinum opii. 
