380 
ABSORPTION OF THE OPAQUE CAPSULE 
are so cogent, and carry with them so much force, that I am 
induced to offer them at length ; and I may state, that the con- 
clusion at which I myself have arrived, after having examined a 
considerable number of cases that have passed under my notice 
at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, at Moorfields, entirely coin- 
cides with Mr. Tyrrell’s. 
That writer says, “ It is at present a question whether the 
opaque capsule undergoes solution or not: my own opinion is, 
that it does not ; and I beg to state a few reasons which have 
led me to this conclusion. I was first induced to reflect upon 
the subject, and to make inquiries respecting it, in consequence 
of seeing the eyes of a girl upon whom Mr. Saunders had ope- 
rated for congenital cataract. The cataracts were in a great 
measure capsular, and Mr. Saunders had effected an aperture in 
the opaque mass in each eye, by cutting out small fragments of 
the capsule with a fine cutting needle. Many of these frag- 
ments fell into the anterior chamber ; and at the present time, 
upwards of twenty years subsequent to the operation, they still 
remain. Now these fragments were originally placed, and have 
continued in the position considered by all surgeons the most 
favourable for solution, but they have not become dissolved. 
“ Again : if the opaque capsule were acted upon by the aqueous 
humour, it must in the course of time disappear ; whereas, I have 
known very many instances, beside that mentioned, in which 
portions of this membrane, although submitted to the influence 
of the aqueous humour, have for years remained the same. Fur- 
ther: if the aqueous humour can act upon the opaque capsule, 
why do we not occasionally find such form of cataract to disap- 
pear without an operation? We never do so. The circumstance 
which has given rise to the opinion that the capsule, when opaque, 
becomes dissolved, I believe to be the gradual diminution of the 
substance after the use of the needle. This is, however, nothing 
more than a contraction.” 
Mr. Tyrrell also alludes to the fact, of portions of opaque cap- 
sule, when stretched across the pupil, remaining for years unaltered. 
They may be divided — they shrink and diminish, it is true ; but 
how does this change take place ? They gain in density what 
they lose in length ; whereas, did the diminution arise from ab- 
sorption, we might naturally expect to find that they decreased 
in substance as well as in bulk. In my opinion, these facts go 
far to lead us to the conviction, that the capsule is not absorba- 
ble, but, as an interesting point, it is well deserving of further 
observation. 
Another point alluded to by Mr. Cruikshank is the probable 
formation of cataracts without inflammation. Traumatic cataracts 
