The Sun.
London, England, 1827-05-31 00:00:00

Mm ABEAYETIfie ON-OPHTHALMIA.

Ophthalmia is of divers kinds, such as the
ophthalmia tarsi, niembranOsa, &c.
The diseases of the. eyes, though
,a branch of
common surgery, forth the study $ Separate
kn'
class of practitioners in this town, 'o*n by the
name of oculists; but, as all affections 'of the
eyes are to be treated upon the common princi-
ples of surgery, I would not have any, who pro-
feSses himself to be a surgeon, ignorant ot, this
most important branch of his profession,

A Mr. Saunders, in this town—a Mari who
had been educated a physiologist—looking at the
subject as a physiologist, raised for himself a mo-
nument more durable and honourable than could
have been constructed by others without his sci-
entific knowledge. He has told us what he knew,
and was at all times most ready and willing to
impart that knowledge.
Like other inflammations, the ophthalmia is
sometimes chronic .and sometimes acute, and
must be treated on general principles. You put
leeches to the temples, and blisters in the vici-
nity ; and I refer you to Mr. Ware's excellent
book on the subject.
The eye is a superficial part—the vessels are
unsupported. It will be particularly likely there
will be weakness here ; any thing which gives
relief to the loaded vessels, and thereby giving
them a tone, will be of use. After bathing the
eye with poppy-water, you use a weak solution
of sulphate of zinc in water—a grain to an
ounce. It smarts at first, but afterwards in a
much less degree. You stimulate indolent parts,
and sooth irritable parts. The tears gum the
eye-lashes together, and this becomes a source
of annoyance, so that you must bathe with tepid
water. The argentum nitration has been used
with great good; and it is curious to know the
strength the eye, under some peculiar circum-
stances, may be made to bear. It has consider-
able effect in removing opacity. I have known
a saturated solution applied without acting as
a caustic. Mr. Lloyd applied this to opacities.
A boy received a blow in his eye from a ball :
it did not seem to produce any ophthalmy
of importance. The cornea becoming opake,
it attracted the notice of others. He was
sent from the school at Hertford, as he could not
see. His eye was subjected, at first, to a weak
solution of argentum nitratum ; and its strength
gradually and cautiously increased. In about six
weeks he could see. But the tunica conjunc-
tiva is liable to purulent inflammation, and it ge-
nerally happens in young children. Mr. Ware
has written on this—" the purulent eye of young
children." In this affection a syringe will be ne-
cessary : now Mr. Ware tells us how that is to
be done, and I have often seen very surprisingly
good effects from such treatment. It occurs at
all times, and it appears to be a contagious dis-
ease, that is, if the matter get applied to another
eye, it will become affected. Several boys in
the Military Asylum had it, and they could not
effectually eradicate it till each boy washed with
his sepaxate towel and 'water. From the time I
was first appointed surgeon' of Christ's Hospital,
there were not less than 200 Toys had the com-
plaint, but they had the beastly .trick of washing
in the same water. The -Governors called me
before them, and I told them how I conceived
the disorder to be propagated ; so orders were
given for each boy to_ wash separately, and a
lavatory was erected for them. in a short time
the disease disappeared.
But the soldiers who went to Egypt got this
ophthalmia, and it was a very bad disease.
this led people to talk of the Egyptian ophthal-
mia. In this Egyptian ophthalmia, something
like granulation`was produced, and this kept up
irritation. This Mr. Saunders saw, and he de-
stroyed the irregularity, with sulphate of iron and
copper. Sir William Adams pared off the
surface of these granulations. So much for the
purulent ophthalmia, and now for the ophthalmia
tarsi. They called this the itching ophthalmy ;-
small ulcers form on the eye-lids ; there seems
to be a want of secretion,. and you apply an
ointment you cure it. The Unguentum Hy-
drargyri Nitrati, has acquired great celebrity
on this account ; and this was the " Golden
Ointment for the Eye," sold as a quack medi-
cine. Ophthalmia very much depends on the
state of the health in which the digestive organs
are. A boy about 12 years of age, had very bad
ophthalmia ; he was an ill-conditioned looking
youth, and had a very bad and unhealthy ap-
pearance. His parents brought him up to town,
a distance of 80 or 100 miles from home, as he
had tried all the doctors in the country and they
did him no good ; washes and unguents in abun-
dance having been tried without any good effect. I
gave them a lecture, you may be sure, about his diet,
and the regulation of his digestive organs, and
I attributed the affection of the eyes, in a great
measure, as arising from those organs being dis-
ordered. They said, " Oh, Sir, if you have
nothing to apply to the eyes, we wish you a
good morning." I said, " Good morning," re-
ceived my fee, and they left my house. On
their return home, the boy was taken ill on the
road, with a spontaneous bowel complaint ; and
it had such a very apparent good effect on the
inflamed eyes, that they turned about again to-
wards London, and gave me another call, ac-
knowledging their error, and sorry they had not
known my opinion many months before. Now,
by pursuing steadily the plan of treatment I at
first laid down, the eyes got quite well. You
have ophthalmia oc/di—inflammation of the eye
itself—it is in the chambers ,of the eye, and no
further ; also, inflammation of, the membranes of
the aqueous humour, both chronic and acute.
I have known it attended with what is called
capsular cataract.

Opacity is produced in the back part, where
the inflammation is greatest ; and I remember
Mr. Pott relating a case, which you may see in
his excellent work.

LISBON, MAY 19.—The domestic news of
Lisbon possess little or no interest. The people attend to
their religious duties, frequent parties, go to the opera, and
amuse themselves in the best way they can, without at all
troubling themselves about the Spanish army on the fron-
tiers, or the victories or the defeats of Don Pedro. The
weather has changed much of late. Instead of a clear
sky, and a hot parching sun, we have had a violent storm
of rain and wind from the south, for the last week.—
The weather is now agreeably cool. I should sup-
pose not at all warmer than it is in London.—
An atrocious deed committed on 'Wednesday last, ex-
cited, for a moment, a little commotion in the Cal-
cada de St. Francesco. About four in the afternoon
a young man observed something thrown from a window,
which alighted on the parapet wall, and immediately at-
tracted the notice of the dogs. On examining it, ho
found, wrapped up in brown paper, the head of a child,
some days old, which bore evident marks of its having
been recently severed front the body. He gave the alarm,
and in a short time a patrol of soldiers surrounded the
house, and an inquiry was instituted, but no traces of the
murder could be found. Had the young man not snatched
it from the dogs, it would have disappeared in a few mi-
nutes. I saw, myself, the body of a child exposed for
hours in the. Praga de Commercio, which had been taken
out of the river, and probably been destroyed under similar
circumstances; but such scenes here are not at all tare.
—Aforning Herald.