WITH PHYSIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 63 



from the eye by means of Daviel s spoon ; the pupillary aperture then appeared per- 

 fectly clear and black. The patient was now turned with his back to the light, for 

 the purpose of trying a few experiments as to his sight, but from these I was obliged 

 to desist on account of the pain which the light produced in the organ. Both eyes 

 were then closed with narrow strips of court-plaster, and the patient carried to bed. 

 Venesection, local bleeding, fomentations with iced water, continued without inter- 

 mission for about forty-eight hours, together with the scrupulous observance of the most 

 severe regimen, barely succeeded in keeping down the inflammation, the effects of 

 which in this case, where but one eye offered hope, were much to be dreaded, if it should 

 surpass that degree which was necessary for the healing of the wound in the cornea. 

 This process went on and terminated so favourably, that the cicatrix, situated close 

 to the sclerotica, is now scarcely visible. The patient suffered from muscae volitantes 

 and from a considerable intolerance of light, pain being produced by even a mild 

 degree of light falling on the closed lids. The muscse volitantes were greatly miti- 

 gated, and the intolerance of light ceased, after the lapse of a few weeks, by the 

 use of proper pharmaceutical remedies, by local bleeding, change of air, &c., and the 

 employment of the ophthalmic fountain of Professor Jungken, which I have fully de- 

 scribed in the Medical Gazette, vol. xxvii. p. 444. To promote the development of 

 the power of vision, the use of the fountain was continued twice daily, with Pyrmont- 

 water and latterly with simple spring-water, for the space of three months, when it 

 was discontinued, as it began to irritate the eye. 



Before I proceed further, I must again refer to the condition of sight previous to 

 the operation. The right eye was completely amaurotic ; in the left the power of 

 vision existed, but, on account of the mechanical defect in the visual apparatus, was 

 very little developed for the perception of light, and not at all for the perception of 

 objects. It appeared to me, therefore, of the greatest interest to observe attentively 

 the progressive development of the sensibility of the retina as regarded direct, re- 

 fracted, reflected, and coloured rays of light ; and also the progress of the visual per- 

 ception in respect of the form, dimensions, and distance of objects. I was the more 

 induced to undertake these physiological observations from having the opportunity 

 of conducting them witli an individual, who from his age, mental endowments, and 

 education, offered peculiar advantages for such experiments. 



On opening the eye for the first time on the third day after the operation, I asked 

 the patient what he could see; he answered that he saw an extensive field of light, 

 in which everything appeared dull, confused, and in motion. He could not distin- 

 guish objects. The pain produced by the light forced him to close the eye immedi- 

 ately. Two days afterwards, the eye, which had been kept closed by means of court- 

 plaster, was again opened. He now described what he saw as a number of opake 

 watery spheres, which moved with the movements of the eye, but, when the eye was 

 at rest, remained stationary, and then partially covered each other. Two days 

 after this the eye was again opened ; the same phenomena were again observed, but 

 the spheres were less opake and somewhat transparent ; their movements more steady; 



