New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-25
Doctors Silent
On Serum to
Revive Sight
Admit Discovery for Cure
of Atropl,ied Nerve by
BrooklynS pecialisiWould
Be Great Boon to Mankind
Formula Still a Secret
DIR. Pond TO Give Boon to
Profession When l More
Patient Receivers Vision

Specialists in diseases of the eye
were reluctant yesterday to discuss the
discovery by DR.. Erasmus Arlington
Pond, of 1893 Dean Street, Brooklyn,
of a serum to cure the atrophied con-
dition of the eye nerves that results in
blindness.
While no treatment ever has been
found that can be applied successfully
to such cases, physicians admit that
should any cure for blindness due to
dying optic nerves be found it would
be one of the greatest boons mankind
could receive.
The news of DR.. Ponds serum be-
came public through one of his pa
tients, man whose sight had grown
so weak that a bright light appeared
to him nothing moro than gray mist
This man DR.. Pond treated at the
POSTGRADUATE Hospital for three
months, at the end of which time he
was able to read print He continued
to visit the hospital for year and
was told at the end of that time, in
1917, that his vision had been COM
pletely restored. He has had no treat
ments now for three years.
Regret Publication
The fact that DIR. Ponds cures, nine
ell told, became public through the
newspapers before he had communicate
ed them to the Academy of Medicine or
to medical journal was cause for re-
greet among physicians yesterday and
prevented any expert comment or criti-
cism, because they did not know the
formula by which the serum is pre-
pared. None except DR.. Pond and two
or three associates, none of whom
would discuss it in detail, know what
the serum is.
The story of the patient who de-
scribed DR.. Ponds treatment is that
in 1917, as a result of lead poisoning
contracted in the course of his employ
ment, his sight began to fail. He went
to DR.. Pond, who told him he would 90
blind, but who offered to try the serum
which he had discovered, if the patient
chose. The patient told him to 90
ahead.
With hypodermic he injected some
of the serum into the eye, SO that it
reached back of the eyeball near the
nose. Similar injections were made
three times week.
Sight Comes Back
At the end of the third week the
patients sight began to come back.
The injections We're continued, and
life was slowly restored to the optic
nerve. AT the end of year he was
able to return to work.
The total number of cases success
fully treated by DR.. Pond is said to
be nine. The doctor said that he would
not make report on his experi-
ments until he has cured one more
patient, whom he is treating now and
whose sight he expects will be COM
pletely restored. His report to The
Medical Journal and the Academy of
Medicine would, he said, be presented
in the fall. At that time the formula
will be made public
DIR, Ponds serum restores the sight
by renewing the vitality Of the nerves
through the blood supply. He does not
attempt to treat those who have lost
their sight through accidents, or wo
have become totally blind through COM
plete loss of nerfe power. If there is
any life left in the optic nerve for the
serum to work on it is said, strength
and vitality can be built up until the
sight is regained
DR.. Pond is a member Of the Man
haitian Eye and Ear Hospital clinic
and was formerly connected with the
Post Graduate Hospital. His work with
the serum has been conducted on his
own account, it is said, and nothing
was known about it at he hosDita1