On the treatment of cataract, without operation, at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields / by Louis François Gondret.

  • Louis François Gondret
Date:
1838
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the treatment of cataract, without operation, at the Royal Ophthalmic Hospital, Moorfields / by Louis François Gondret. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

    17/22 page 13
    nient having been either not employed or not continued, the cataract, allowed to take its course, will necessarily increase until it has at- tained its extreme point of development. These facts have their value in reference to the power of modi- fying the cataract when it is not too far advanced ; and, supposing a'ny one to have given credence to the assertion of Mr. Mackenzy (page 698 of his treatise on the Diseases of the Eye,) that 1 was mistaken in the character of the malady, all such imputation of error in this particular must now cease to have any weight, the ex- istence of the cataract having been verified by oculists—MM. Tvrrell, Mackmurdo and Dalyrymple. But the importance of the above examples increases if we com- pare them with a great number of others which have been produced in Paris, and which can be verified with the greatest ease ; viz: M. Le Vicomte de Montchenu, M. Le Vicomte de Prunele, Mme. La Princesse de Broglie.Revel, Mme. Sirey, nee du Saillant, Mme. La Marquise douairiere de Dreux-Breze, M. Durne, Mme. de Beru, M. de Franzenbcrg, M. le General de Prechamps, &c. &c. At all events, it would be very easy to prove, upon a greater scale, the effect of the derivative treatment in cases of cataract. More than any other town in Europe, London offers all the conditions for this demonstration—not only in the number of patients, but the im- partiality of the oculists. It would be easy to collect a great number of patients affected with cataracts; the state of the eyes and the vision might be verified before and during the treatment by oculists. This means would be infallible in solving the question in a manner satisfactory to science and the cause of humanity. For several years I have combated the practice of applying a great number of leeches to the head in cases of cerebral and senso- rial affections.* The arguments that I have employed hereto- fore re^t on facts, unfortunately too nnmerous, which prove the danger of this practice ; and again, on the consequences resulting from the circulation of the head. This function is sustained in the brain, by a greater number of vessels and a greater quantity of blood than any other organ of the human body is furnished with. The dt licate and very ingenious experiments of Sir Astley Cooper on the different vessels of the head are pre-eminently calculated to throw a great light on physiology and therapeutics considered ii» relation to the encephalus. A ligature being placed on the twt carotid arteries and the two vertebrals of a dog, the primitive vessel; are replaced by new ones which perform the same functions, inso- much that, after a certain time, the health of the animal is perfectly • Read my treatise on Derivation, and my refutation of the treatise on Ophthalmology, by Dr. Sichel.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3