XXV111 



both concurred in the opinion that an iridectomy should be performed 

 without delay. Accordingly, on the following day, Mr. Couperdid an 

 iridectomy on the left eye, on account of glaucoma. Nothing could 

 have been more satisfactory than his recovery from the operation. 

 The wound healed without pain, vision was maintained, and normal 

 tension restored. About ten to fourteen days after the operation he 

 began to experience lancinating pain referred to the ears and base of 

 the skull, which he attributed to the east wind and rheumatism, as 

 there was no change in either eye to account for the pain, and no 

 external swelling. He woke in the morning to find that he had been 

 struck blind of the right eye (which up till that moment had been 

 perfect). Mr. Couper saw him forthwith, and found the tension 

 normal, but there was a considerable area of the field of vision blind, 

 the limit coming close to the centre. He could only distinguish large 

 letters. Next day the main branch of the arteria centralis was seen 

 to be plugged with blood-clot, the portion of vessel beyond the 

 plug empty, and so for many weeks vision was entirely lost. From 

 this it was feared that other arteries might be similarly plugged in 

 adjoining parts. Dr. George Johnson also saw him with Mr. Couper 

 and Mr. C. A. Aikin, and found that the cardiac valves were sound. 

 It was thus probable that the vessels became plugged owing to 

 degeneration of their coats at the plugged part. Gradually the 

 plugging process extended, and about the fourth month after the 

 illness began some local paralyses became developed, first in the left 

 hand, thumb and forefinger, which passed away, and afterwards in the 

 muscles of the right side of the face ; the vagus also became implicated, 

 so that hiccough was more or less constant, relieved only by chloro- 

 form. His strength was reduced by protracted suffering, and even- 

 tually breathing became obstructed. He died at 66, Palace- gardens 

 Terrace, W., on March 21st, 1884, in the seventy-fifth year of his 

 age ; and as he wrote of his friend Sharpey, so it may be written of 

 himself : " He had not a single enemy, and he numbered among his 

 friends all those who ever had the advantage of being in his society."* 

 His memory will long be cherished in the hearts of thousands of his 

 pupils at home and abroad, alike in civil and in military life. 



W. A. 



* ' Proceedings,' vol. 31, p. xix. 



