Law of refraction : change following increase or decrease of body-weight / by George M. Gould.

  • Gould, George Milbrey, 1848-1922.
Date:
1897
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Law of refraction : change following increase or decrease of body-weight / by George M. Gould. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    lengthened by a slight polar shortening, and vice- versa. The ametropia of albinotic eyes shows this fact produced by another mechanism. These purely a priori thoughts had been in mind for years, and I had had a number of patients in whom changes of refraction were suspected to be co- incident or consequent upon changes in body-weight, but there were always some elements of doubt, due to the fact that as the patients had been previously examined by other oculists, I might reasonably sus- pect they were errors due to my own carelessness, etc. I.ast spring, however, several cases came nearly to- gether, and a study of the case-records appeared to warrant a tentative theory, or working hypothesis, of sufficient plausibility to justify making the sugges- tion public. I remember to have been often per- plexed before the present suggestion occurred to me to account for decreases in myopia. I, by no means, claim any great definiteness of result or any precise formulation of a law, except in general terms, and liable to modifications and exceptions. I myself have had one or two cases showing that, if founded upon fact, the rule is not invariable. It certainly could not be so, because many complicating condi- tions and circumstances must occur and must be taken into account. With all due allowances and justifiable cautions it seems to me that the thought is a reasonable one, and is given in order to be proved or disproved by the future observations of many. If it is true it will help to explain a number of perplexing cases, and put us and our patients on guard. I am sure the common belief that myopia does not lessen is frequently disproved by facts. It