The function of the lachrymal puncta / by George M. Gould.

  • Gould, George Milbrey, 1848-1922.
Date:
1892
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The function of the lachrymal puncta / 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.

    2/4 (page 2)
    customary treatment of epiphora, lachrymal con- junctivitis, dacryocystitis, etc. It has been long known that the pimctum is surrounded by a series of muscular fibers that have precisely the action of a sphincter. This may be demonstrated by inserting a bristle or fine probe into the orifice, when the force with which the foreign body is grasped may be distinctly felt. Dust-particles pass below the punctum, their gravity aiding to keep them away from the opening of the punctum. The lower punctum being at the very upper border, drains off only the upper and purer part of the little lake of tears, the action of the lids and of the excess of tears washing the foreign bodies easily past the punctum to the inner canthus. In eyes that are inflamed, the concrete exudate, both in waking and after sleep, is gathered at the inner canthus, having passed by the punctum. The same fact is observed when black dust in the eyes has been excreted by the action of tears and the lids; it is found gathered in a little ball at the e.xtreme inner angle of the lids. By its exquisite mechanism the eye has most dextrously rid itself of the rubbish; and in doing so this has not been dumped into the capillary tubes of the canaliculus or duct. Had this, through a large patulous opening, taken place, the foreign bodies, however tiny, either mechanically by gathering and thus clogging the tiny canal, or by the reaction of the resultant irrita- tion or inflammation, would often have closed the excretory passage-way, producing the well-known sympt^naas of lachrymal retention, etc. It would therefore appear that the sensitive