The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 2 (of 3) : $b translated from the Greek: with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgeryPaulus, Aegineta
History
The seven books of Paulus Ægineta, volume 2 (of 3) : $b translated from the Greek: with a commentary embracing a complete view of the knowledge possessed by the Greeks, Romans, and Arabians on all subjects connected with medicine and surgery
Paulus, Aegineta
Medicine; Medicine, Arab; Medicine, Greek and Roman
Haly Abbas accurately describes the four following operations: 1. By
excision and the suture. He directs the under-incision not to be made
deep. 2. By twisting the hairs into the fold of a silk thread and
flattening it to the forehead. 3. By the actual cautery. 4. By the
potential cautery.
We will give the description of the veterinary surgeon, Vegetius, in his
own words: “Non longe a pilis ab interiori parte scalpello plagam dabis
in cute palpebræ, post forficibus per longum ad mensuram oculi fasciolam
præcides, et impositis fibulis consucs palpebram foris versus, ut oculus
sine deformitate recipiat visum et gratiam naturalem.”
It is to be remarked that Albucasis, Jesu Hali, and Vegetius speak of
cutting out the superfluous skin of the eyelid with a pair of scissors,
as was done by Scarpa.
All the ancient operations for trichiasis are described by Guido de
Cauliaco (vi, 2.) The mode of cure by twisting the skin about small reeds
until the parts slough is still generally practised in China. The Chinese
surgeons grasp the fold between two slips of bamboo, which being tightly
fastened at their ends perform the office of a ligature.
SECT. IX.—ON BURNING OF THE EYELIDS BY MEDICINES.
The burning of the eyelids with caustic medicines was reprobated, in a
word, by all the ancients, lest the acrimony of the application should
prove injurious to the eyes; and because when the burning was carried
to too great an extent the affection called lagophthalmos was produced,
in which case the eyelids cannot be shut, and the vision is apt to be
injured by everything that comes in the way. But since many who suffer
from the irritation of the ciliary hairs are not able to endure even
the name of the operation by suture, we are compelled from necessity,
against our will, to have recourse to burning by medicine. The following
is a composition of that kind: of quicklime, p. ij; of Gallic or common
soap, p. ij; and some add of aphronitrum, p. iv. These things being
pounded with strained ley, or soap ley, or some other ley, as that of
figs or of oaks, and being mixed with the urine of a young man not come
to maturity, we apply to the eyelid, upon the knob of a specillum, the
part touched having the shape of a myrtle leaf; and we burn to the extent
comprehended in the operation by suture. The skin being burnt at the
first application, we remove so much of it with a sponge, and apply the
medicine a second time, allowing it to remain until the part blacken;
and if it does not blacken we apply it a third time. When the skin is
blackened and the eschar also formed, we must clean away the medicine and
have recourse to bathing and washing until the eschar drop off; after
which it will be proper to complete the cure by means of pledgets of
charpie and emollient collyria.
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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