The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-27 00:00:00

CURIOUS CASES OF INJURY TO THE

EYE.

We extract the two following extrarordinary
cases of serious injury sustained by the organs of
vision from the fourth number of Dr. Krau s Cli-
nique Europeene, specially destined to record the
most remarkable clinical cases which have occurred
in all the hospitals of Europe. The first case, ob-
served at Prague about a month ago, was that of a
woman who, being engaged in splitting wood, was
struck on the left eyebrow by a log which rebounded
from the pavement. The blow caused a slight exco-
riation, which soon healed.; but the eye, although
not directly touched, offered growing symptoms of
impaired vision in consequence of the violent con-
cussion it had sustained. The pupil was consider-
ably enlarged, and upon closer examination it was
found that the crystalline lens had been depressed,
and made to recline almost at right angles with its
natural position, towards the bottom of the vitreous
humour, just as if the operation for cataract by
couching had been successfully performed. The
patient was kept in observation at the hospital for
some time, and, as she experienced Ro further in-
convenience, she was provided with proper spec-
tacles, and sent home.—The second case is still
more singular.--A day labourer, named Villeqdey,
aged- 31, and living in Paris, was, in August
last, labouring under an attack of erysipelas, which
producing delirium caused him to fall out of bed.
In his fall his eye struck against a chair, he became
insensible, and remained lying on the floor until his
wife returned from market. She sent for the phy-
sician, who, finding the eye greatly swollen, or-
dered poultices and leeches. The tumour subsided,
and eight days later the patient was sufficiently
recovered lto be removed to the country, where
another practitioner took him under his treatment.
But, as the eye continued to give no signs of reco-
very, he, three months later, applied for advice to
Dr. Desmarres. The eye at that time appeared
quite flat, the upper eyelid, which was split in two,
hanging down as if the socket was quite empty.
On raising the eyelid a granulous mass without
any distinct form was discovered. Dr. Desmarres,
on introducing a probe, felt a hard substance, and
to his astonishment soon extracted a piece of wood
5 centimetres in length and 51 in circumference,
which turned out to have belonged to the chair on
which the unfortunate man had fallen ! The ex-
traction, of course, produced an immediate cure,
and the natural eye has been replaced by an arti
ficial one.

SEAN PAUL RICHTER.---Essentially.anti-French
in his sympathies and thoughts, it was his mission to create
a healthier and homelier tone in -German Wei-attire than
Kotzebue and his followers had left. The humour might
be too ponderous for our tastes, as the language was too
difficult for even many Germans to thoroughly understand ;
but the human heart beneath was so noble, and the object
was so true to the best interests of literature, that he soon
siverboie all opposition, and his words forced themselves a
channel which deepens with time ; as truth gains always
strength and power with years. Richter now ranks as one
of the first men in German literature ; he has had his critics,
his commentators, imitators, his exponents. His rugged
language is no longera stumbling-block, for is there not a
Richter glossary? And in a day which rims more danger
of failing through cant than by levity, Jean Paul with his
ardent religiousness of nature does not want admirers of all
classes.- Indeed, he has narrowly escaped the curse of be-
coming a "fashionable study." -Carlyle has done much to
make him known in England, we may say that he has done
all. He was the first to render into intelligible Saxon the
deep Teutonic bass, which until listened to attentively,
sounds but rude and inarticulate murmxings, as the wind
through sea .side-caves,—hiterary gawk,