Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1898-04-08
A BIG MAGNET.
METAL PARTICLES EXTRACTED
FROM THE EYE BY ITS AID.
The Bit Of Foreign Substance Flies
From the Eye as IL Alive
Located by Same
Device.
THERE is in the New York Eye
and Ear Infirmary a marvel

rHERE is in the New York Eye
and Ear In6rmary marvel
Gus magnet of sufficient
power to lift sixteen pounds,
but its lifting power is as nothing
when compared to its gift for saving
the sight of human eyes. When
viewed as an eye instrument, it is
giant in size, and, indeed it is as pow
erful as a giant is supposed to be, for
it takes 40 volts of electricity of the
incandescsnt light circuit to actuate
it. 1t is the strangest and one of the
most reliable s'eye doctors" to be
found within the length and breadth
of Manhattan Island, or anywhere else,
for that matter.
Every metal worker, every iron
worker, ever man who works where
particles of metal Of any sort fly about
is likely to get such splinter in his
eye. Time was when that meant
blindness, for there is no operation
that ever becomes necessary to per-
form on any human organ which is
more delicate than an operation in
volving the retention or loss of the
eyesight.
One would think that a magnet pos
sessing sufficient electrical attraction
to lift substance weighing sixteen
pounds, with a two inch contact,
would bring anything out OF any eye.
1t so happens that when an eye which
has become the unhappy possessor of
o fragment of iron or st eel il brought
near this magnet the presence and To-
cation of the metal is Immediately
made manifest by bullying of the
coats of the eyeball. This is the ex-
act spot located, and with the attrac.
tion continued at full limit the matter
of the extraction of the particle be-
comes simple.
The magnet rests on a swivel, and
this swivel is placed on stand. The
magnet itself is twenty-four inches
from pole to pole.
Under the old method, if the parti-
ole simply adhered to the surface of
the eye it could be easily swept off,
after the eye had been cocainized, by
means of a little absorbent cotton,
twisted around probe or a wooden
toothpick. It ie when the particle is
deeply embedded in the eye, or has
forced its way into that portion of the
orb known as the corneal tissue, be-
cause of striking the eye while hot,
that it becomes necessary to use in
struments or magnet.
When patient comes to the doctor
to be treated for an injury to the eye
he is seated in a chair with headrest.
facing a good light. The doctor first
.steadies the eyeball with the thumb
and foreinger of his left hand. Should
he discover that the bit of metal is
very minute and not to be readily
seen, he calls an assistant, who focuses
the light upon the eye by means of a
large six-inch reading lens. When he
finds that the particle can be seen
nicely he takes the gouge or the bis
'toury, the two dainty and yet terror
izing instruments of the eye specialist,
and with the point of either he makes
an insertion beneath the particle, and
in moment, if the surgeon be skill.
full, the metal is out upon the surface.
1t must not be understood that the
'u5o VI bu0 udSu0b ICAuOtc uipOS0ehOA
unnecessary the instruments referred
to. The attraction of the magnet
causes the surface of the eyeball be-
meath which the bit of metal is lodged
to bulge out, showing the exact posi-
tion of the particle. This is where the
surgeon finds it necessary to use the
gouge or the bistoury, just as in an
operation where the magnet was not
used. The advantage in this case is
found in the fact that there is no delay
or doubt as to the location of the Of
Tending particle.
How is it when the particle merely
adheres to the surface of the eyeball
instead of penetrating the tissue in
great degree? Eye and magnet are
brought into juxtaposition. The eye
ball is barred to the full extent of the
electric current. In less time than an
eye wrinkles the particle, as if endowed
with life, fairly leaps from the eyeball
to the magnets surface. New York
| Herald.