Notice of some recent suggestions for the improvement of ophthalmic practice : and, first, upon the minute care to be observed in performing the principal operations on the eye, and the times and seasons at which they may most safely be undertaken / by Robert Hamilton.

  • Hamilton, Robert, M.D.
Date:
[1843]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Notice of some recent suggestions for the improvement of ophthalmic practice : and, first, upon the minute care to be observed in performing the principal operations on the eye, and the times and seasons at which they may most safely be undertaken / by Robert Hamilton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    NOTICE OF SOME RECENT SUGGESTIONS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF OPHTHALMIC PRACTICE; AND, FIRST, UPON THE MINUTE CARE TO BE OBSERVED IN PERFORMING THE PRINCIPAL OPERATIONS ON THE EYE, AND THE TIMES AND SEASONS AT WHICH THEY MAY MOST SAFELY BE UNDERTAKEN. By ROBERT HAMILTON, M.D., F.R.S.E., FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS, AND ONE OF THE SURGEONS OF THE EDINBURGH EYE INFIRMARY. (Read before the Medico-Chirurgical Society of Edinburgh, Feb. 1843.) In requesting the attention of the members of this Society to certain suggestions which have lately been made by others for the improvement of ophthalmic practice, I would venture, preli- minarily, to submit one which recent circumstances have strongly forced upon my own attention, and which may be expressed in these terms, That it would be well if the members of the profession in this country generally, in their estimate of the importance of the grand operations upon the eye, would bring their ideas somewhat more into unison with the very high one entertained by their brethren in Germany, who are so assiduously and successfully cultivating this field of practice. That there is a marked diffe- rence in the estimate taken by the professional men of these two countries is, we believe, so familiarly known, that it is unneces- sary to enter into any general or formal proof of the proposition. Such a proof might be made, with propriety, to rest upon the vastly superior degree of attention which is paid to the cultiva- tion of the science of ophthalmology in the one country more than in the other, exhibited in the public arrangements made for teaching it, consisting of various professorships in the same school, for systematic lectures, and for practical or clinical courses upon the diseases of the eye; in the consequent necessary existence of wards or hospitals for exclusive attention to the diseases of the organ; in the long and protracted courses on these subjects which are prescribed to the students; and in the assiduous attention of the numerous pupils, both native and foreign, who avail themselves of these rare opportunities; also iin their anxiety to procure courses of operative ophthalmic sur- gery, at the hands of the many illustrious practitioners of the rt, and in their obtaining distinct diplomas and doctor's degrees