On the employment of the magnet and electro-magnet in the removal of iron & steel fragments from the interior of the eye / by Simeon Snell.

  • Snell, Simeon, 1851-1909.
Date:
[1881]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the employment of the magnet and electro-magnet in the removal of iron & steel fragments from the interior of the eye / by Simeon Snell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    as well as in ocular, surgery. Towards the close of last year (1880), a man applied at the Sheffield Infirmary, stating that a few weeks previously he had been hit on the (left ?) eye by two or three pieces of metal. He feared that his eye had been perhaps injured. Beyond, however, a slight nebula, there was no evidence of any ocular mischief; but an elevation in the upper lid was noticed. It was rounded, of firm feeling, and about the size of a pea; and, on being questioned, he asserted it had only existed since the time of the accident, though he had no distinct recollection of his lid having been injured. Thinking it very likely that a particle of iron was embedded in this little tumour, I cut across it with a scalpel, and, as the electro-magnet was at hand, the needle was inserted into the wound, and withdrawn immediately with the portion of metal attached. Addendum.—Since sending the foregoing for publication, a very similar case to the one described above, with the foreign body in the lens, has come under my notice, and with an equally satisfactory result. On March 17th, a little boy, H. A., aged 6, was brought to me from the country under the following circumstances. Six weeks previously, whilst striking two hammers together, a spark had flown off one and hit the left eye. For a few days, it appeared a little bloodshot; his parents, however, paid little attention to it until they noticed that the pupil was losing its normal appearance, and becoming filled with a white substance, and this, for the last two weeks, had completely occupied it. Vision was now reduced to shadows, and examination disclosed a faint linear scar in the cornea just below the pupil and on the inner side. The lens was opaque, and on the front, just below the pupillary margin, was a yellowish mark, not showing, however, a distinct reflex; and it was particularly noticeable when the pupil was dilated with atropine. Judging this lymphoid mass to contain the piece of metal, its removal with the cataractous lens was suggested. It was not, however, until April 6th, that he was brought into Sheffield with a view to operation. A powerful electro-magnet was at first held in front of the eye, to endeavour to displace the fragment forwards. It, however, produced no effect except that the little patient complained