On paralytic, neuralgic, and other nervous diseases of the eye / [Arthur Jacob].

  • Jacob, Arthur, 1790-1874
Date:
[1841]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On paralytic, neuralgic, and other nervous diseases of the eye / [Arthur Jacob]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    pain, with intolerance of light, which cannot be ac¬ counted for from the state of the membrane, and in other cases of protracted inflammation terminating in destruction of the cornea the pain is obviously the same which accompanies disease of the nerve. The destruction of the cornea, which usually attends dis¬ ease of the fifth nerve, does not, 1 believe, occur in those cases only in which sensation is lost; I have seen it where severe neuralgia alone existed, and where the surface never became insensible, although the neuralgia continued for years after the eyes were destroyed, and all inflammation had subsided. Although many of the cases on record of loss of sight from injury of the supra-orbital branch of the fifth nerve are inconclusive, there is good ground for supposing, that in some vision has actually been im¬ paired or destroyed by such an accident. It is true, that in perhaps the majority of these cases, the mis¬ chief was not confined to the branches of the fifth nerve, but extended to the brain itself, and involved other nerves, and therefore, probably the optic; but in some, it must I think be admitted, that the mis¬ chief was confined to the fifth nerve, and being merely a slight wound or puncture could not have affected the brain, except through the nerve wounded. On the other hand, there is scarcely any other nerve in the body so exposed to injury of its branches, or which so frequently suffers as the fifth ; yet, loss of sight from this cause is comparatively rare. Thou¬ sands of children suffer from dentition, and thousands of adults from toothache; yet, none of them become blind in consequence. In some of the worst cases of that form of neuralgia, called tic douloureux, vision is not impaired, and blindness does not seem to have followed any of the operations formerly so much practised, of dividing the branches of the nerve. It has been asserted, that blindness from injury of the supra-orbital branch of the fifth nerve has been cured by cutting it across, but it has so often failed in other hands, that additional instances are required. Dr. Galenzowski, a Polish professor, states, that severe neuralgia and blindness, was cured by extracting a carious tooth, in which a bit of stick was found, but u a probe passed into the antrum, from which a few drops of matter escaped,” and therefore, this cannot be considered a simple case of mechanical injury of