A treatise on the eye : containing discoveries of the causes of near and far sightedness, and of the affections of the retina : with remarks on the use of medicines as substitutes for spectacles / by William Clay Wallace.

  • Wallace, William Clay.
Date:
1839
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on the eye : containing discoveries of the causes of near and far sightedness, and of the affections of the retina : with remarks on the use of medicines as substitutes for spectacles / by William Clay Wallace. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    over the edge of the eyelids by the oily fluid of the glands formerly mentioned, and is collected at the inner corner of the eye, from which, unless too abundant, it is conveyed away by the action of a muscle that enlarges the size of the tear-bag, and pumps into it the collected tears through two little pipes, the openings of which, at the inner corner of each eyelid, are kept in situa- tion by a red substance, made elastic by fine hairs. From the tear-bag they pass to the nostril, and are evaporated by the current of air which is always passing over it during the process of breathing. Can any pipe or outlet, says Dr. Paley, be more mechanical than this is. It is easily per- ceived that the eye must want moisture, but could the want of the eye generate the gland that pro- duces the tear, or bore the hole by which it is dis- charged. A hole through a bone !