on Muscular Motion. 
27 
From this account given by Dr. Russell there can be no 
doubt of gall having continued in use, as an application to 
the eye among the eastern nations, from the time of Tobit 
down to the present day. 
I have in the course of the last three years made many trials 
of the effects of gall, as an application to the cornea in a diseased 
state. I have used it pure, and diluted ; and compared its effects 
with those of the unguentum hydrargyri nitrati, and the solu- 
tion of the argentum nitratum ; and find in old cases of opacity 
it is, in some instances, the best application. The gall of qua- 
drupeds, in these trials, gave more pain than the gall of fish. 
The painful sensation was very severe for an hour or two, and 
then went off. It is proper to observe, that the beneficial effects 
it produces appear to be in proportion to the local violence at 
the time of its application. 
To enter further into the practical part of the treatment for 
removing opacities from the cornea, would be foreign to the 
pursuits of this learned Society, which I consider to be confined 
4t Censier having obtained the gall of that fish, squeezed the liquor out of it into a 
“ phial, and in the evening he rubbed it with the end of a feather into his mother’s eyes. 
“ It gave her great pain for about half an hour, which abated by degrees, and her eyes 
“ watered very much : next morning she could not open them, the water as it were 
“ gluing her eyes up : he bathed them with pure water, and she began to see with 
“ the eye which had received the most liquor. He used the gall again in the .evening ; 
4i the inflammation dispersed, the white of her eyes became red, their colour re- 
" turned by degrees, and her sight became strong. He repeated it a third time, with 
“ all the desired success. In short. She recovered her sight without any other remedy. 
“ The widow Germain is in her fifty- third year. She had been pronounced blind 
“ by the surgeons of the Hotel-Dieu : and her blindness and cure have been attested 
“ by order of the lieutenant general of police. She sees stronger and clearer now than 
€< before the accident.” Annual Register, Vol. xi. page 143, 
E 2 
