The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-08-19

en- months passed before the lens had been
sufficiently reduced BY dissolution 10 give
me the power Of dimly defining objects
through the right eye. Then tue progress
OF dissolution became less s%mall.paced,
and within the next few months pure
light entered over and around the gradu.
ally dissolving lens. But the obstructing
lens still kept It's place In the centre Of the
aqueous humor, covering the pupil, hrst
like q pail, and then likea curtain OF
ganze, as II became thinner and thinner,
and then almost transparent. The space
through which pure light entered at one
side OF the eye was widening, atiording
from month to month additional proof Of
tho certainty Of restoration. Then arose
the desire to hasten the golden day Of
light by pushing aside what remained Of
the opaque lens, that being the Only oh.
stacle To- tho vision straight ahead, The
Doctor thought 1t probable that he might
find the lens not hard enough 10 be per.
manently pushed aside; and the use Of
the kntIe showed him to be right. For
ten minutes subsequent To the operation
the branches OF trees in the street, the
signs across the way, and the print Of the
books on the Doctors table presented
themselves with distinctness; aud then
the semi.liquid substance OF the dead lens
returned 10 Its place over the pupil, be-
coming q gauze again.
Never mind" said the Doctor, looking
into the eye throughapowerful glass, the
new aqueous humor which will soon form
will resume the work OF d~iSsolving the lit
tie that remains OF the lens, and not long
hence you may read" A fortnight later,
with the speCtacles which | must wear
henceiorth, l saw the end Of the minute
hand Of my watch as l saw ii in boyhood.
Two months later l saw the street lamps
straight ahead. Seen without spectaCles,
every gas jet was a meniscus Of a hundred
lights. The next operation yielded oper.
ceptible result at the time, but q month
atterward | read the newspapers. And so
the Doctors cuttings were repeated from
month TO month until the field of vision
had been 80 far enlarged hat began to
read manuscripts with the right eye, and
was ready for The Doctor to begin WOrko on
the left. The operations had not kept me
from my work i single day.
1t is not the glaring gus lights Of q morn
ing newspaper Office that killed my Crys.l
talline lens. What happened to me may
happen TO any person Of sedentary en-
pl9yment, even i he works only In day.
light. | had worked necessarily for three
years from twelve to fourteen hours a day,
taking no open air exercise, and eating in
nutritious, indigestible victuals that are
served in the hotels and restaurants. In
der such q course Of existence-as sheer in
vitation to death could tho tides Of the
blood have been expected to penetrate
the hundreds Of microscopic veins that
carry life TO the eyes? The crystalline
lenses, ing remote from the vascular
naturally died OF lack Of nutri-
ment. Yet they might have been saved il
l had changed my course OF life previous
to their entire hardening or death. II,
when dimness OF sight Erst began to mani
lest itself, | had taken an hour a day from
my desk and walked in open air, and at
the same time eaten bcefsleaks and that
Incompatible food oatmeal and cream, |
might have fortified myself against the in.
march OF death; and II to good
living l had added the wearing Of specta-
Giles perfectly fitted to the eyes, ! might
have preserved what vision was left, aud
possibly, in time, my eyesight might have
been improved.
Ny great old oCulist having retired from
active practice, l may write hisname with.
out suspicion OF being his advertising
agent. It is Samuel Mackenzie Elliott.
Since he has emancipated himself from the
slavlsh life which every physician in his
prime must lead, he has found time to
give me the story Of his career. HO is the
pioneer Of the physicians in America who
have made the eye u specially. In his
youth the microscope was his toy, and the
eye the mystery that he lonGed to master.
His earlier operations were upon the eyes
OF fishes; then he operated upon those OF
insects, reptiles, Quadrupeds and birds,
and at length upon those Of man; but he
did not venture To touch the. human eye
until he had learned how 10 make Nature
his chlefmotor in the restoration Of vision.
And now, on resting after thirty-elght
years OF usefulness, he is able truthlully to
say. as be does with honest pride, II new
or lost an eye."