Observations on ophthalmia and its consequences / by Charles Farrell, M.D.

  • Farrell, Charles, 1779-1855.
Date:
1811
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on ophthalmia and its consequences / by Charles Farrell, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    same disease of other organs often produced by va- rious separate causes; but as long as the method of cure is not affected by the nature of the cause, I see no necessity for combining the name of the cause with that of the disease. Now the disease which has been called Egyptian ophthalmia, is to be treated precisely in the same way as any other violent inflammation of the eyes. No one ac- quainted with the history of Egypt, or with the recent campaigns of European armies in that country, will dispute the frequent occurrence of a violent species of ophthalmia in that country; but it appears to me that this very circumstance has eclipsed others of a minor consideration, and laid the foundation of error. Almost every modern writer, whether French or Italian, and perhaps I might add, English, whom I have consulted on the subject of Egyptian ophthalmia, represents the disease in its most violent shape; from which one would be led to infer, that there was no such thing as a mild form of ophthalmia in Egypt. Now, I can take upon myself to say, that I have met with a great number of cases of ophthalmia in that country, in which the inflammation was by no means high, not higher indeed than in the or- dinary mild ophthalmia in England, and in which that symptom yielded to the usual collyria and blisters to the temples. It appears then, from this fact alone, that the general denomination of Egyp- tian ophthalmia ought to imply two species of the