Henry Power, in the _British Medical Journal_ (October, 1901), entered a plea for the occasional performance of the operation of depression in cases of cataract. His experience went far enough back to enable him to remember the time, not only when he had seen surgeons of repute employ this method, but when he had himself imitated the example thus set. His own practice had been to attack the cataract, via the sclerotic, through the posterior capsule. He framed a number of indications which to his mind justified the occasional performance of couching. It is safe to say that very few of these would be seriously entertained by surgeons to-day. The most interesting point he made was in connection with Himly, in whose work, published in 1843, the statement occurred that “severe inflammation rarely followed reclination, and when it did it often cleared up without leaving any bad consequences.” A doubt as to the reliability of Himly’s statements is suggested by his claim that he had only two failures in fifty cases, one of these not being attributable to the operation. This is so much at variance with the experience of others as to make one sceptical about accepting any of his assertions without some reservation. The next paper of value that we come to is by Maynard (1903). In this he analysed sixty-three cases of couching, which he had met with in Indian practice, and recorded the anatomical examination by Parsons of a couched eye sent home for the purpose. The same year saw the appearance of a paper by Albertotti of Medina, in which that writer somewhat fanatically and unconvincingly advocated a return to couching, with the use of a corneal puncture and with the employment of special instruments for the purpose. A year later he was followed along the same lines by Basso of Genoa, whilst Quartillera published a paper whose recommendations were very similar to those made by Henry Power. In 1905, Major Henry Smith of Jullundur, in a very outspoken article in the _Indian Medical Gazette_, expressed the opinion “that lens couching at the present time is an operation which should not be practised outside the ranks of charlatans,” and added that “it is no easy matter to completely dislocate the lens, and in my observation the partial dislocation is more frequent than the complete in the hands of adepts of the art.” In reply to this paper, Maynard reaffirmed his belief that couching is “justifiable under certain conditions.” The editor of the _Indian Medical Gazette_ invited further discussion of the subject, and in accordance with this request the writer published his statistics based on 125 cases of couching, carefully recorded on printed schedules. In the course of that paper he voiced his strong opposition to the adoption of the Indian operation, or of any modification of it, in the hands of surgeons who enjoy the unique opportunity of obtaining manipulative skill granted to those who work in India. A former pupil of his, Dr.