Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-11-21

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the dreaded dark room in which
patients are additionally kept a
fortnight or longer after the com
mon operation for cataract.
My practice said The Doctor,
in answer TO my question, " does
not coniine the patient al all. ]
will not operate when the atmos-
phere or anything in the patien's
system has a tendency 90 iniam-
nation, and inflammation is all
that need be feared"
| requested the Doctor 10 give
me chioreform.
"Sir," said he with emphasis.
never took a risk, and | will
not begin to take risks at my adj
vanced age. Besides" he contin-
ued, exhibiting knife whose in
finitesimal blade was barely visi-
BILE under powerful magnifyipg
glass, "there is no pain"
This astonishing assertion tai
lied with that of WiIkie Collins
Oculist in "Poor Miss Finch. -
Therein Herr Grose assures Lucille
Finch that the operation for cata-
ract ID almost painless. | could
not believe it.
But pain, or no pain, there was
no escape for me. The Doctor
would not listen TO The word caio-
reform The right eye was totally
blind aud the ca,aract in The left
was almost total an operation was
almost inevitable. 1t cannot last
long. ] thought, as ] braced n.y.
self ia The chair, and the knife de
scended A few skilSul whirIs and
the dead lens were cut, the blade
was drawn and the water of the
eye trickled down my cheek-an
inverted mBIstrom which swept
the eyes inhabitants 10 death liz
space beyond their sky. The pain
had not been that OF mosquito
ting There had been the small
est possible puncture of the horny
outer covering of the eye, known
in the books as the cOrnea and
nn,t under the thin, transparent
layers of the cornea. the knit
touched on the dead cryslal-like
lens. So far MS sensibility was con-
cerned, ii might as we'll have cut
corn on The foot.
Now" said the Doctor, as he
carefully restored the gem of
knife 10 his safe, ga new aqueous
humor, like that which followed
the steel out of your rye, will form
in four hours and begin to dissolve
the dead lens that i have cut; and
1 wish you 10 lake your ease and
live high, so that your system may
absorb the lens as fast as the aque
Gus humer dissolves it. What |
mean by living nigh" the Doctor
explained, "i is that you shall take
plenty of nouri5hing food, such
for example, as beefSteaks and oat-
meal and cream" Then he told
story of the Highlander who, hav-
ing been tainted with DIR. John
sons spiteful definition of oatmeal
-" food for men in Scotland and
for horses in England - retorted
with: "And what fine horses
they have in England and what
fine men i'm Scotland" Briefly,
the Doctor babe me eat food fit for
the human stomach, instead of the
paving stone soup and brickbats
that are served on New York ia
bles
1.-The desolving of dead lens
in the eye' said the Doctor, stealth
lily punching bundle Of needles
into my spinal column, "is slow
tedious process; but it is safe and
sure. 1t is not practiced by the
profession. because few patients
can brook its hardness, and few
oculists can Withstand the tempta-
ton to crafty their patients by
taking the risk of removinff lens
at a single sitting. If an oculist
has successfully TAX en- a lens from
one eye by "a single operation, he
will hardly touch the other, the
peril from the sympathy of the
eyes is so great. Besides, n the
extraction OF the lens, ana opera
ton in which," the Doctor contin-
ned, with Jingle of bitterness in
his tone. "thirty per cent. of all
the eyes cut are lost, vision is not
restored in perfection, for the iris
is Oxen destroyed, and so much of
the cOrnea is cutie !, ( out the dead
lens that the five transparent layers
which form the cornea canuOt be
perfectly joined in healing. In
my practice of dissolving the cry
staline lens in the aqueous humor
| avoid these tremendous risks, and
instead of cOnsigning The patient