60 
DR. FRANZ ON THE CURE OF CONGENITAL BLINDNESS, 
testimony both of the parents and of the nurse, whom I have closely questioned on 
this subject. The latter, who can distinctly remember all the circumstances of the 
case, told me that when the child was a few months old, she held a light before its 
eyes, of which it took no notice. I ascertained also from her that the eye-balls had 
not that restless motion which is generally observed in those who are born blind, but 
that both eyes were always turned inwards, and that but rarely either the one or the 
other was moved from the internal canthus. 
It was also stated to me, that towards the end of the second year the operation of 
keratonyxis was performed on the right eye, upon which a severe iritis ensued, termi- 
nating in atrophy of the eye-ball. Within the next four years two similar operations 
were performed on the left eye, which did not indeed destroy the organ, but at the 
same time did not remove the opacity in the pupil. The colour of the opacity be- 
came in time, however, of a clearer white ; and the patient acquired a certain sensa- 
tion of light, which he did not seem to have had before the operation. Both eyes for 
a long time retained a disposition to inflammation, and suffered repeatedly from con- 
junctivitis, whence the vessels of the conjunctiva were increased in number and size 
to such an extent, that it was necessary they should be several times excised. 
At the end of June 1840, the patient, being then seventeen years of age, was 
brought to me by my friend Dr. Swaine, for the purpose of consulting me with re- 
gard to the congenital double strabismus, and at the same time to hear my opinion 
on the more severe ophthalmic affection, which up to this period had been considered 
incurable ; the patient himself regarded his case as hopeless. The following are the 
particulars elicited on an attentive and careful examination : — On the right side, the 
eyelids and parts adjacent appeared contracted ; they were less in size, and the eye 
itself was situated deeper in the orbit than the left. At each act of winking spasms 
of the eyelids were induced, and, when the left eye was turned outwards, the spas- 
modic twitchings extended over that half of the face. Both eyes were so much in- 
verted, that nearly one half of the cornea was hidden by the inner canthus. The 
left eye he could move voluntarily outwards or in any direction with certainty, but 
not without exertion; it returned immediately inwards, when the influence of the 
will had ceased. The motion of the right eye upwards and downwards the patient 
had under his control, but not so the movement towards the external canthus, in 
effecting which he only succeeded after many attempts. The left eye-ball was of the 
natural size and elasticity ; the right, on the other hand, was at least a third smaller, 
and felt soft, and like dough ; it was also, in the neighbourhood of the rectus in- 
ternus, flat, or rather pressed inwards. The cornea was less convex, somewhat 
smaller, but notin proportion to the diminished size of the globe itself; it was 
clear, and free from opacity, except in the centre, where the keratonyxis had left an 
opake spot. The fibrous structure of the iris was irregular; its colour, which was 
brown, rather lighter than that of the left eye. Different degrees of light produced 
no effect on the motion of the iris ; but when the eye was moved in a horizontal di- 
