An essay on the malformations and congenital diseases of the organs of sight / by W. R. Wilde.

  • Wilde, W. R. (William Robert), 1815-1876.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An essay on the malformations and congenital diseases of the organs of sight / by W. R. Wilde. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

    127/160 (page 115)
    miliar with pathological products in the human eye, I think I am warranted in asserting that we require satisfactory evi- dence as to the reproduction of the lens, in whole or in part, in man, under any circumstances. Those who have had much experience in operating know full well that, owing to the cortical substance of the lens being softer than the nucleus, especially towards its circumference, a portion of it often re- mains within the capsule, even after the operation of extrac- tion. Unless anatomists are also experienced operators, their mode of treating the eye in the lower animals for the purpose of these experiments, may, I think, with justice, be questioned by those who well know the great difHculties which surround this branch of practical surgery. Even acknowledging to the fullest extent the most favourable results of these experiments, observations, and assertions, no practical good is ever likely to accrue therefrom, no more than from the asserted transplanta- tion of the cornea, or, as stated, the reading with the pit of the stomach, as some years ago was gravely stated to me by an eminent dignitary of the Irish Church^ Deviations from the normal condition in this part of the organ of vision maybe divided into:—the absence of lens; the fusion of two lenses together, as in monoculi; a double lens in one eye; malpositions of the lens, and alterations in the size, form, structure, consistency, and transparency of the lens and its capsule, as well as organic changes, such as absorption of the lens, and adhesions between the iris and the anterior cap- * Vagaries of this description, so repugnant to common sense, irrespectiye of sci- ence, and so subversive of the cause of true religion, might be laughed at in the igno- rant, and despised in the charlatan; but when they are upheld by the exalted in station and influential in position, they become truly dangerous; and when they bias a mind, by nature open as day to melting charity, so far as to withdraw from the public charities of a large city, which supply shelter, food, care, and all the appli- ances which science and humanity have devised for the amelioration of human suf- fering, because mesmerism and homoeopathy are not practised in such institutions, then there can be no hesitation in asserting that such conduct becomes not only de- plorable, but reprehensible. ,