An introductory lecture, on diseases of the eye, delivered at the Birmingham Eye Infirmary, February 17, 1834 / by Richard Middlemore.

Date:
1834
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory lecture, on diseases of the eye, delivered at the Birmingham Eye Infirmary, February 17, 1834 / by Richard Middlemore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

    8/32 (page 8)
    is, you know, tlie Liquor Morgagni,—Canalis Petitiana,—Foramen Soennneringii,—Zonula Zinnii,—Tunica Ruychiana,—Tunica Ja- cobiana,—in short, there exist many other names and terms, derived from similar circumstances, both before and since the time of Jacob, many of which I have, doubtless, forgotten. Any of you may be readily furnished with an opportunity of dissecting and minutely ex- amining the structure of the eye ; so that there is really no excuse for being unacquainted with its anatomy, as there sometimes perhaps may be for possessing an inadequate anatomical knowledge of some other parts. Gentlemen,—I do not profess to give an elaborate history of the progress of ophthalmic knowledge, but may briefly mention, in these preliminary observations, that, in former times, the treatment of diseases of the eye was, in a great measure, confined to Oculists,— to a class of persons assuming that name,—who very frequently acquired, with great notoriety, considerable wealth and importance. You will not fail to remark, that these persons, as their conduct and writings evinced, were characterized by extreme assurance and extraordinary ignorance, and that their treatment of ophthalmic disease consisted, almost entirely, in the rude and unscientific appli- cation of disgusting local remedies. If, however, by the term Oculist is meant, a person competent to treat the various maladies of the human eye, without any, or only a very slight acquaintance with general anatomy, pathology, and therapeutics, we may confi- dently assert that there is no such individual in existence j for he only can be considered adequate to the treatment of disease, in whatever part it may be situated, who is conversant with the natural structure of parts, with the laws which regulate the healthy functions, and with the derangements and alterations produced by the encroachments of disease,—with the sympathies, the influence and the connexions sub- sisting between every part of the animated machine. If, however, in defiance of common sense, you do attempt to disconnect the study of diseases of the eye from the cultivation of the other branches of your profession,—if, in short, you insulate, as it were, the pathology of the eye, and affect to study its diseases for the purpose of becom- ing mere oculists, you must inevitably fail in your attempts to obtain