A probationary surgical essay on cataract : submitted ... to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, ... / by James Keith.

  • Keith, James, 1783-1863.
Date:
September 1810
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A probationary surgical essay on cataract : submitted ... to the examination of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, ... / by James Keith. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    long with the Cataract to the bottom of the eye ; Richter seems to be of this opinion, as he imagines that the con¬ nections of the capsule of the lens with the membrane of the vitreous humours, and ciliary processes, are so slight* that in the operation of extraction, both, with a little care, may be expelled together; and that, otherwise, the Cataract, long after depression, could not again rise to its former situation, as the capsule must then be con¬ tracted, and pressed together by the aqueous and vi¬ treous humours *. Scarpa, on the contrary, denies the probability of this, and considers the opacity of the cap¬ sule, and the difficulty of its removal, as the most se¬ rious obstacle to any operation for the Cataract; and that this is the case in the sound eye, or even in Cata¬ ract, where the capsule is not affected, seems probable from the anatomical examination of the parts; for the capsule of the lens is, posteriorly, intimately united to the membrane of the vitreous humour, so that it is dif¬ ficult, even in dissection, to separate them. And when in extraction, the lens with its sound capsule is forcibly pressed out, it is always followed by a portion of the vi- it trCous humour. Scarpa therefore recommends, in de¬ pressing the lens, in order to prevent the occurrence of secondary Cataract, or to remove it when present, to tear, with the round curved needle, which he employs, as much of the anterior capsule of the lens as corre¬ sponds * Anfangsgriinde, 3ter, band. suit. 230.