The function of the lachrymal puncta / by George M. Gould.

  • Gould, George Milbrey, 1848-1922.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The function of the lachrymal puncta / by George M. Gould. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    [Reprinted trom THE MEDICAL News, June 25, 1892.] THE FUNCTION OF THE LACHRYMAL PUNCTA. By GEORGE M. GOULD, A.M., M.D., OPHTHALMOLOGIST TO THE PHILADELPHIA HOSPITAL. In no book on physiology or on the eye have I seen any attempt at an explanation of the function of the puncta; nor have I ever been able to learn from the many ophthalmologists I have questioned that the thought of attributing to them any function whatever had occurred to them. The very name, punctum, shows ignorance of its function, since, far more than a black dot or point, it is a sphincter- guarded mouth, a lachrymos, if a word might be coined. The routine practice of ophthalmic sur- geons, of “slitting up the canaliculus,” in cases of epiphora and dacryocystitis, confirms the general thoughtlessness as to the utility of the punctum. Nothing, however, is more certain than that no physical organ comes into existence except in obedi- ence to a stringent necessity; nor does it con- tinue in active function except it subserve a useful end. It should not therefore be destroyed except from imperative necessity. I have elsewhere* noted the rec kless and stupid haste with which the func- tion of the punctum is foiever destroyed by the ^ A Simple Method of I renting Many Cases of Lachrymal Obstruction,” N. Y. Med. Journ., June 4, 1892.