A treatise of the cataract and glaucoma : in which the specific definitions of those two diseases, and the existence of membranous cataracts, are clearly demonstrated. With a plain description of the methods of operating in all circumstances of either distemper ... / compiled from the dictates of Mr. Woolhouse, as taken from him in writing, by one of his pupils.

  • Woolhouse, John Thomas, approximately 1650-1734.
Date:
1745
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise of the cataract and glaucoma : in which the specific definitions of those two diseases, and the existence of membranous cataracts, are clearly demonstrated. With a plain description of the methods of operating in all circumstances of either distemper ... / compiled from the dictates of Mr. Woolhouse, as taken from him in writing, by one of his pupils. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    46/126 (page 38)
    Catarafl: adheres round to the inner part of the iris, by feveral fine threads, impercepti¬ ble by the naked eye: fuch as we perceive through a microfcope, in the fir ft threads of the woof of a fpider’s web, when juft fpun, and not yet dry. Now in rubbing the out- fide of the cataradted eye, we fee the pupil open and fhut, and the Cataradl of courfe dilate or contract, according as the eye-ball is affedted by the friction. Mr. Woolhoufe, by this very adtion, had been a- b]e to diftinguifli the nature of a Cataradt, and even to unhinge or loofen it in fome part of its adherence. He had known o~ ther Cataradts fall in an inftant ; fome by a fright; others by the patient’s leaping into a river off fome eminence to fwim ; others by a fall from a horfe, and feveral like ac¬ cidents. Now it is eafy to conceive what the diffe¬ rent convulfions, irritations, and vellications, may, in the like cafes, produce by various motions and effedts upon the eighty*four di- ftindt threads that conftitute the mufcle of the iris; as well as in the four mufcles that compofe the globe of the eye, the motory nerves in the ligaments that join the uvea to the fclerotica, &c. Which motions do the work, to all intents and purpofes, that the oculifl does by his needle in couching the Cataradt 5 the membrane being as foon de« prefled'