88 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
OPHTHALMOSCOPIC SURGERY.* 
* 
T HE thanks of all members of the medical profession are due to 
Mr. Hogg for the production of a new edition of a work, which he 
has modestly termed a “ Manual of Ophthalmoscopic Surgery.” It may 
be truly said of the ophthalmoscope, that it is as valuable an agent in the 
detection of ocular disease as the stethoscope is in the diagnoses of pulmonary 
affections. There is no calamity which can befall a human being more 
disastrous than the loss of that sense by which we become cognizant of 
the existence of surrounding objects. And as we know that the little 
instrument which has given its name to the new branch of surgical science, 
is, in skilled hands, the most efficient means of discovering the early 
stages of diseases of the eye, it behoves us as practitioners to whom a 
serious responsibility attaches, to do all that we possibly can to promote 
<£ a proper knowledge of the use and advantages of ” the ophthalmoscope. 
It need be no longer the excuse of local surgeons, that no book exists which 
is at the same time scientific, practical, and easily understood, for, in the 
volume lying on our table, we have these three qualities combined, in a 
manner which it is not often our good fortune to observe. The history of 
the discovery of the opthalmoscope is dealt with in a very impartial spirit, 
and it is with extreme satisfaction we perceive that k the claims of our 
countryman Mr. Cumming are fairly exposed. We read, “ It may be 
gathered from these remarks, that the first practical suggestions for the 
present mode of examining the internal eye and investigating its diseases, 
were made by Cumming. In the objects stated with which he commenced 
Iris experiments, in the means he used when examining eyes, and the pre- 
cautions necessary to obtain the desired effect, we find all the fundamental 
principles engaged in the practice, or which enter into the theory, of the 
ophthalmoscope.” Some eight or ten pages are given to explanations of 
the construction and varieties of the new instrument, the forms known, Lieb- 
reich’s, Anagnostalci’s, Grandmont’s, Meyerstein’s, and Nachet’s binocular, 
being carefully described and commented on : in alluding to the last, the author 
expresses his opinion that experienced observers will “ continue to prefer the 
much more portable form so generally employed, all the deficiencies of which 
may be corrected by a little patience and tact.” As we should have 
expected, the optical principles involved in the instrument are treated of 
in the fullest and most exact fashion. The chapter on the histology of the 
organs of vision is not behind the time ; and the views of Virchow, 
Schlemm, His, Donders, Strube, and Kolliker are discussed at length. In 
the physiological section we have been provided with lucid abstracts of the 
* “ A Manual of Ophthalmoscopic Surgery.” Being a practical Treatise 
on the Use of the Ophthalmoscope in Diseases of the Eye. By Jabez Hogg, 
Senior Assistant Surgeon to the Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, 
Fellow of the Linnean Society, &c. London : John Churchill. 1863. 
3rd Edition, entirely re-written and enlarged. 
