Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On keratitis / by W.S. Watson. 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.
10/18 (page 8)
![ti-emely rare. I have notes of one case only, tlioiigh I am aware tliat several others liave recently passed under my observation, of which 1 have not had opportunities of getting any detailed account. In the tim’d division, viz., that including all cases of Ker- atitis, depending entirely on constitutional causes, I have placed the group of Hereditary Syphilitic Keratitis first, as being at the same time the most characteristic of this division, and the most interesting on account of its having recently been described and distinguished from Sti-mnous Ophthalmia. The description given of the disease by Mr. Jonathan Hutchin- son is extremely acciu’ate, and having taken notes of twenty- fotu’ cases, of most of which I have carefully watched the progress, I believe that the confirmation which I can thus g-ive to his observations is of considerable value. Seventeen of these twenty-four were over the age of 9 years at the time of the commencement of treatment, and therefore afforded an opportimity of observing any peculiarity of the upper incisor permanent teeth, and in three only was there no indication of a syphilitic taint afforded by them ; in the remamder there was either a notching or peg-shape of these teeth, or the two characters combined. In those cases in wliich neither the teeth nor the physioggomy afforded any infonnation, there was a history ol a conclusive character in some, and actual disease hi | others; but I have ventured to include in the same group | two cases in which there was no indication afforded from any 1 of these sources ; in which the teeth were good, the physiog- | nomy and complexion good, and in which no history could | be obtained at all leading to the supposition of an iulierited i] taint. My reason for including these two cases, was the fact ' that the disease ran precisely the same coiuse as in the others, I and exhibited precisely the same phenomena. One of these ; cases was sufficiently characteristic in the succession and : nature of the symptoms to mduce me to relate it. Case.—A boy 13^ years of age, of fresh complexion, and tolerably well nom’ished, applied at Lloorfields on Api!! 14th, 1864, with interstitial keratitis of both eyes. He is an orphan, but has a sister 10 years of age, who is in good health. His teeth are well-foi-med and close-set, and there is nothing peculiar about the form of the face or nose. His aunt states, that as an infant, he had erysipelas in the head, and was ailing for two years. For two or thi’ee months past he has been restless at night and subject to noctiunal headaches, and about a month ago his right eye became inflamed, a few days after his left also became affected. On admission, both corneas presented a groimd-glass appearance, the opacity lying evidently m the substance of the corneal](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2231037x_0012.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
