The proper provision for teaching ophthalmology in the medical schools / by Edward Jackson.

  • Jackson, Edward, 1856-1942.
Date:
[1912]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The proper provision for teaching ophthalmology in the medical schools / by Edward Jackson. 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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    planning or more carefully elaborated technic than the extraction of cataract, iridectomy or the plastic opera- tions on the lids? The ophthalmologist, as a rule, knows more of the requirements and attainments of general medicine and surgery than any one outside of ophthalmic practice knows of the attainments and requirements of ophthal- mology. In so far as any one class of men are capable of comparing different branches of medical and surgical practice, the members of this Section, by training and experience, are better fitted to compare the requirements for the proper teaching of ophthalmology with those for other departments of medicine and surgery than are any other group of men in the American medical profession. Do any of you believe that there is any line of work carried on in the medical profession which demands more training, or better training, for its proper perform- ance than that encountered in ophthalmic practice? Occasionally there have been surgeons and physicians who have attained proficiency both in general surgery and general medical practice, and in some departments of ophthalmology—such men as Jonathan Hutchinson, Hughlings Jackson, Clifford Allbutt and Sir William Gowers. And these men without exception have given a relatively high place to the diagnostic and operative methods that belong to ophthalmology. That the knowl- edge and technic of ophthalmic medicine and surgerv should be underrated by those who are ignorant of them is not surprising and has no bearing on a just estimate ■ of their relative importance. • Aside from preparation for devotion to ophthalmology as a special line of practice, consider how much there is in it for study that may be of important service to other branches of medicine. The department of ocular hygiene should dominate the lighting of buildings, the conditions for study in schools and for work in'fac- tories and offices, and the prevention of blindness by industrial injuries, ophthalmia neonatorum or trachoma. Aot less important are the diagnostic services ophthal- mology can render in general medicine and surgerv, the Jignt it may throw on general diseases, on such proc- esses as arteriosclerosis and lesions within the cranium fiPlflSeJre ^ttenng suggestions of the extent of the iZu phthafllrnol°gy3 the breadth of the science to be Se%fbrained' ^ ^ M ^