Hints to students on the use of the eyes / by Edward Reynolds.
- Edward Reynolds
- Date:
- 1835
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Hints to students on the use of the eyes / by Edward Reynolds. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)
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![the head, and augments the danger of injuring the eyes. ' 6. When there is no necessity in the case, and the choice is free, writing is preferable to reading as an even- ing employment, provided it is not attended with any mental effort. It will be found, on trial, to strain the eyes less. III. The eye has been denominated by a distinguished German writer, a microcosm* As man, says he, is to be considered a little world (microcosm) in relation to the earth upon which he lives, even so must the eye be considered a microcosm in regard to the individual man. There is great propriety in the term. An examination of the structure of the eye, presents us with the striking fact, that a perfect specimen of each of the different membranes which go to form the whole body, enters into its com- position. Each of these various membranes and parts of the organ possesses the same properties and peculiarities, is endowed with the same vitality, and governed by the same general laws, with those to which it is akin. Con- sequently a mutual sympathy of the most intimate charac- ter, is constantly maintained between them. Neither is independent of the other. This sympathy, this mutual dependence, is the subject of constant observation in health and disease. Hence the reason, why the eye is so sure an index of the state of health and disease of the body. Hence its clear, bright appearance, when the harmony of health pervades the general system ; and hence its dull, heavy look, when disease has entered the i citadel. This similarity of structure and function, can lalone explain the great variety of diseases with which the leye is affected. It is the frequency with which this fact iis overlooked, that renders their treatment so difficult, land the results so unsatisfactory. There is no organ whose vigour depends more upon the general health of ithe body than the eye,—none, whose diseases arise more evidently from the derangement of the general health, Beer, Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten. the Diseases of the Eye.] [Beer's Treatise on 27](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21633903_0033.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
