Subjective symptoms in eye diseases / by George A. Berry.
- George Andreas Berry
- Date:
- 1882
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Subjective symptoms in eye diseases / by George A. Berry. 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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![corresponding failure of the light and form senses may, if slight, more readily escape detection. There does not appear to be any reason for sup))Osing that the failure of the colour perce})ti(»n is un- connected with that of the other functions of the visual apparatus. Though, considering tlie nuniher of possible seats as well as natures of the lesions which would disturb the functions of the optic nerve, the possibility of such an independence should be born(? in mind. Before, however, we are able to form correct conclusions on the nature of the colour failure in casps of optic atrophy, it would be necessary to have more ample data of the normal relations con- necting the three senses of light, form, and colour. It is certain that they are all different functions of tlie s])ecial sense of vision, but in hnw far mutually de[)endent remains to be shown by future investigation. Although it is most common to find, in cases of optic atrophy, that the failure of the functions of the central and peripheral y)ortions of the retina advance hand in hand, still cases are met with in which the peripheral functions have suffered much more severely than the central. The long time wliich sometimes elapses between the begiiniing of atrophy and complete blindness renders it difficult to give a favourable prognosis based on an apparent arrest in the progress of the amblyopia ; but if the condi- tion of the field of vision remain absolutely stationary for several months, the prognosis is certainly hopeful, and all the more so if the cause of the atrophy appears to be at an end. Cases occur in which, after the disease has produced a considerable amount of amblyopia along with great limitation of the field, it ceases, and the patient retains what is left. It is impossible from the functional examination to determine whether the atrophy is connected with spinal or cerebral disease, or due to some other cause (ha)morrhage, primary sclerosis of the optic nerve, etc.), but thei'e are other circumstances which render one or other cause the most probable in any case. In the great majority of cases of spinal atrophy some ataxic symptoms are already present when the amblyopia begins, whereas it is other- ^vise with the atrophy of cerebral origin, which is seldom pre- ceded, though often followed, by mental disturbances. In cases of atrophy there is generally a considerable difference in the amblyopia of the two eyes. It is not uncommon to find the one far advanced towards amaurosis whilst the vision is still very fair in the other. The mode of development of the amblyopia is, never- theless, generally much the same in both. Thus, if any particular ])ortion of the field is most restricted in the one, the first symptoms may be looked for in the corresponding part of the field of the other eye. The characteristic subjective symptoms of optic atrophy are, then, more or less concentric limitation of the field of vision, which is greatly more pronounced for colour, with a simultaneous diminu- tion of the central visual acuity. There is no constant relation](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b21637982_0022.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
