What Eye doctors Can 80.

Otago Witness, Issue 2805, 18 December 1907, Page 76

W hat Eye doctors Can 80.

Only a l ftw years a;#o, belbre !) tKo dayb off antiseptic surgery,' &ore >Qmk*. 30 per- ctenti. of.,*H operailonte/ pe^formedr/ for catatact of.,^h,e eye, wex& unsuccessfuiv resultiftgf int ijernvanent-aoql 4 ,hppeless> bltodpeas for^'the patieiit. Thiß Ws beoause n nelths^;,^he> tnetruments uged nor the. surgeoa'B , it&ndff!wwre stdYiYmed, and in.icrbbes ''Were . ijiua eoabled 1 fey iatade' the wowhd', ' bringing ;|uppurafrive;infection.: ; • - ■'' -"-•••? . At the pretenti ► time 'onlyr" aftont :*wdi operatiojae of this Ipn£ otrt.-oli.-fevery^lran--dred^ fail, a^ad^ the. foccurzence of infeefciont in any 'euqh case wouii, oond^pin; tlior pnyaicidnis a bungler,. CTataract, o*~c°urse,t is -not, ke'ie popularly supjiosed, a film $hati. forms- ,over the eye. but 'merely that ihos -crystaUihe lens k which lies drreeky 1 behind? the Uttle .round hole caHed th# pnpil r"be--cotneff, This necessarily hnplica ; obscuration of vision. ■ and the only wayj tor get rid of the miscliiof is to- removev-^he-fens bodily. " ■ 'This v 6 accomplished by thrusting a.tkin--blaoed" and exceedingly sharp knife downtrards ' into the eye from above, v ihseVtingthe point at the edge of the corner (whictt carers the Iroat of t&e organ, like a' watch- ; gtassfv and makißir an arc-shaped slit.. Thee capsule that holds the lens is aIs.Q, jQut,> permitting the latter by the uelp of gentlepressure to he uttßneo out and removed?-. Of course,' the watery fluid escapes frpm£ the anterior ahambßr^of the 4ye, biiV'it i» replaced by Nature^ within a few days.'/sndl the organ -is noon as serviceable as eVer/, though glasses' , have to be worn to takerthe place, in .an optical sense, of the lensthat is gone. , „