The Catholic World, Vol. 02, October, 1865 to March, 1866: A Monthly Eclectic MagazineVarious
Religion
The Catholic World, Vol. 02, October, 1865 to March, 1866: A Monthly Eclectic Magazine
Various
Catholic Church -- Periodicals
"It is of frequent occurrence to find the capsule of the lens
stained with black spots; these are stains left by the uveal
pigment, and occur usually after an attack of iritis, when the iris
has been in contact with the lens. When the iris has been adherent,
a complete ring of pigment may often be seen on the surface of the
lens. A day's experience at any ophthalmic clinique can mostly show
examples of this condition; but it is only when these deposits are
numerous, and in the central line of vision, that they become
troublesome. They are then met with as the sequences of severe
choroido-iritis, and usually coincide with further mischief in the
vitreous and choroid.
"The vitreous, under the influence most commonly of choroiditis, and
usually syphilitic choroiditis, presents alterations of the most
striking character for ophthalmoscopic observation. The patients who
offer these changes complain usually of considerable dimness of
sight, which on examination is found to include both diminution in
the acuteness of visual perception, and restriction in _the field of
vision_, or extent of any object seen at once. The great source of
trouble to them is, that when they lift the eye or move the head,
black corpuscles, or streaks, or webs float before their eyes, and
obscure the object at which they are looking; and when the eyes are
kept still, these fall again and disappear. Examine now the eyes of
such an one, and you will see that the phenomena described are due
to the existence of actual shreds, corpuscles, or webs of fibrous
and albuminous exudation, which float in the vitreous, and at each
motion of the eye rise in clouds and obscure the fundus, so that you
can barely see it, or perhaps not at all. These conditions, I say,
are mostly specific, but not invariably. They are sometimes the
result of scrofula, and probably of other forms of choroiditis."
Here, then, are a large number of cases in which the ophthalmoscope
transports us at once from the regions of the known to the unknown.
There are other classes of cases equally striking. Let me take
illustrative examples. Two persons apply for advice, complaining that
the sight has been gradually growing more and more dim, perhaps in one
eye,--it may be in both. The progress of the disease has been
insidious and nearly painless. The eyes are to all external appearance
healthy, except probably that in both patients the pupils are
partially dilated and sluggish. The ophthalmoscope helps us to solve
the problem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account