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XII. An Account of the Orifice in the Retina of the human Eye, 
discovered by Professor Soemmering. To which are added. 
Proof s of this Appearance being extended to the Eyes of other 
Animals. By Everard Home, Esq. F. R. S. 
Read April 19, 1798. 
Having had the honour of laying before this learned Society, 
at different times, observations on the structure of the eye, both 
in man and in other animals, I have been naturally led to avail 
myself of every opportunity to investigate this subject. 
My attention has been recently directed to the prosecution 
of this inquiry, by a very curious discovery of an aperture in 
the retina of the human eye, which we owe to Mr. Soem- 
mering, an anatomist of considerable reputation, resident at 
Mentz. His account of this discovery has been published on 
the Continent, but I do not know that any copy of the memoir 
has been brought into this country. 
It was believed by Mr. Soemmering, and also by the French 
anatomists, that this appearance is only to be met with in the 
human eye, I have, however, been so fortunate as to discover 
it in the eyes of other animals ; and the object of the present 
paper is, to lay before the Society the observations I have made 
upon this subject 
I am indebted to my friend Sir Charles Blagden, for the 
first intelligence of Mr. Soemmering’s discovery, I afterwards 
received a more particular account, in a very obliging letter 
