208 Treatise on the Diseases of the Eye. 



on our return. One was a bearer whose pay did not commence till 

 he reached Dacca, and a second was so lazy that he would not work 

 as the others did, in consequence of which neither were allowed the 

 same quantity of food, and both became weak and affected by heme- 

 ralopia. The season was cool, but the sun was very hot, and the 

 glare from the calm surface of the river was considerable, to which 

 they were exposed during the day. Both complained of pain in the 

 head and round the orbit, and one of them at times had a consider- 

 able degree of redness of the conjunctiva. In both the pulse was 

 weak ; in one of them it was 94, soft, and easily compressed. The 

 iris in both was sluggish during the day, when the pupil was larger 

 than usual, and at night it was fully distended, and immovable. The 

 retina had a lighter or greyish colour. During the day vision was 

 less distinct than usual, and as twilight advanced, although the pupil 

 enlarged considerably, vision was very imperfect. Objects appeared 

 to be enveloped in a haze, and this increased as darkness advanced 

 until vision was entirely lost. 



Another class of causes producing this loss of sight is the frequent 

 use of magnifying or telescope glasses, the accumulation of the hu- 

 mours of the eye, or by such causes as exhaust sensibility, as by 

 frequently viewing minute or brilliant objects, exposure to strong 

 light, to the sudden transition from darkness to light, as that of the 

 sun, lightning, &c. 



It was by this means that the cruel tyrants of Asia destroyed 

 vision, by placing a red-hot ball before the eyes of their victims ; 

 which destroyed vision, by the complete amaurotic state it produced. 



The treatment in this variety is sufficiently simple. It should 

 consist in avoiding the exciting causes, in using nourishing food, with 

 tonics, such as the preparations of bark, with stimulants to the eyes, 

 as the Vin. Opii Spt., the vapour of the liquor ammonia ; with 

 friction to the eyebrows, stimulating lineaments, blisters, errhines, 

 electricity, &c. These external irritants are particularly useful when 

 the disease is caused by the exposure to a great glare of light. 

 Hydrocyanic acid continued for sometime will sometimes gradually 

 restore the sight.* Creasote in doses of two drops increased to 20, 



* " Sec Dr. Bamfield's Essay on Medical and Chirurgical Transactions, 

 Vol. v." 



