26 
Mr. Home's Lecture 
“ of his eyes, and when he saw his son he fell upon his 
“ neck."* 
In conversing with my friend Dr. Russell on the manner 
in which the Arabians treat inflammations and opacities of 
the cornea, he very kindly favoured me with the following 
account. 
“ Respecting the practice of the Arabians in disorders of the 
“ eyes, I find nothing of consequence in my papers. An ocu- 
“ list among them is a distinct profession ; and the collyria they 
“ apply are secret compositions, which pass hereditarily from 
“ father to son. The Arabian writers give a number of recipes, 
“ most of which are taken from Galen and the Greek physi- 
“ cians. One composition in Avicenna contains the gall of a 
“ crow, crane, partridge, goat, &c. At Aleppo, the gall of 
“ the sheet fish, Silurus Glanis of Linn, was in particular re- 
“ quest; but it should be remarked, that they always add to the 
“ gall other ingredients, it being a material circumstance in 
“ that country, that a recipe should consist of a multitude of 
** ingredients. What often struck me in their practice was the 
“ successful application of sharp or acrid remedies, at a time 
“ I should have been induced to make use of the mildest emol- 
“ lient applications." 
* Since this paper was read before the Royal Society, my friend Dr. Wells ac- 
quainted me' with the following case, published in the Annual Register for the year 
1768. 
« One of the Paris newspapers gives an account of an extraordinary cure effected by 
“ the gall of a barbel, in a case of blindness, in substance as follows : A journeyman 
« watchmaker, named C e n s i e r , having heard that the gall of a barbel was the remedy 
« which Tobias employed to cure his father’s blindness, resolved to try its effects on 
“ the widow Germain, his mother-in-law, whose eyes had for six months been af- 
“ dieted with ulcers, and covered with a film, which rendered them totally blind : 
