24 ACCOUNT OF A BOY 



" Iii the summer of 1810, several months after his return 

 from London, young Mitchell was again brought by his fa- 

 ther to visit me at Forres. When I placed him in a chair be- 

 fore me, and took hold of his head, with a view to examine his 

 eyes, his situation seemed immediately to recall to his memo- 

 ry the painful operations with which this examination had been 

 formerly succeeded, and he withdrew from me in his chair, 

 panting as from a sudden alarm. By patting him gently on 

 the cheek, however, his fears were quickly allayed. The cata- 

 ract of the left eye, into which the needle had been introduced, 

 had lost its white colour, and seemed as if broken down ; but 

 still the lens remained opaque, and he was in every respect as 

 blind as when I first saw him. The pupil, however, of each eye 

 was very distinctly enlarged when I placed my hand before 

 his face, and it again contracted when the hand was removed ; 

 and I observed with great satisfaction, every time I practised 

 this experiment, that when the quantity of light admitted to 

 the eye was increased, the boy expressed his pleasure by a 

 smile. The cataract of the right eye had the same appearance 

 of firmness as before, and I therefore still entertained hopes, 

 that it might be practicable to remove it entirely by the ope- 

 ration of extraction. On stating this opinion to Mr Mitchell, 

 to the honour of whose memory it ought to be remarked, that 

 he displayed at all times the most earnest anxiety to alleviate 

 the sad condition of his child, he immediately resolved to visit 

 the metropolis once more ; and, in compliance with my request, 

 to entrust the treatment of his son, entirely to the judgment 

 and practical skill of my friend Mr Wardrop. In a few weeks 

 Mr Wardrop wrote to me, that having resolved to attempt ex- 

 tracting the cataract from the right eye, he had endeavoured, 

 by means of powerful machinery, as well as the aid of nume- 

 rous assistants, to fix the boy's head in a position sufficiently 



steady 



