Lectures on diseases of the eye / by Charles Bell Taylor.

  • Bell Taylor
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Lectures on diseases of the eye / by Charles Bell Taylor. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    long before medical men iu general practice will have cocaine at hand to use in a doubtful case. Meanwhile what advice can we give to the attendant who is called upon to treat a case of eye disease, which may be glaucoma, which may be iritis, or which may be simply surface irritation ? Well, the best advice I can give in such cases, if there is the least doubt— especially if the patient is past middle life—is for the attendant to get rid of the responsibility. Medical men as a rule remain long in one place ; their patients are their neighbours, friends, and acquaintances, often of years' standing ; and it is a grave misfortune for a practitioner to have in his immediate neigh- bourhood—next door as it were—one who believes, rightly or wi-ongly, that his worst misfortunes are due to his attendant's want of skill, lack of interest in the case, or failure to appre- ciate peril. I therefore counsel, in view of the life-comfort of the patient, and with regard to the reputation of the prac- titioner, that what is sometimes called better help should be called in. There are ophthalmic surgeons now in most towns; and it is better that those whose backs are broad should bear the burden, if burden there be to bear. For the successful treatment of an odd case or two of this kind can do no one any good; while failure involves loss of reputation, more or less merited reproach, heart-burnings, and an uncom- fortable feeling that you have not done your duty to a friend and client when his dearest interests in life were at stake.
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