On the operation for the removal of cataract : as performed with a fine sewing needle through the cornea / by Arthur Jacob.

  • Jacob, Arthur, 1790-1874.
Date:
1850
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the operation for the removal of cataract : as performed with a fine sewing needle through the cornea / by Arthur Jacob. 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.

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    listen with wonder and no small vexation to the expres- sions of want of confidence in the operation for cataract, uttered, not only by patients, but by practitioners; and this I find is to be attributed to the experience people have had of the consequences of this bad method. I know that other causes operate to diffuse and perpetuate these pre- judices and misconceptions; that in fact they are fostered by feelings of jealousy and that spirit which leads men to decry what is successfully practised by rivals ; but the foundation of these representations is the frequent failure of this posterior operation and the sufferings patients have undergone in consequence of it. In the performance of this operation I have adopted some modifications since this paper was published. In- stead of operating on the left eye standing in front of the patient, I now operate on both eyes standing behind him. This position as regards the left eye may seem to some a strange one, but I was induced to adopt it to enable the hospital pupils to see all the steps of the operation, which they could not if I stood in front, and I now find that it is the preferable position. It gives the operator the most perfect command over the patient’s head and eyelids, and enables him to bring his eye to bear on the needle and cataract with the utmost precision. Moreover, it renders him independent of an assistant who, in eye operations, should, if possible, be dispensed with. I seat the pa- tient in a chair and make him sit straight up or inclining, according to his height. If very tall I raise myself by standing on a large book or two, or on anything which an- swers the purpose to be found at hand. In my own place of business I find old medical folios answer the purpose well: operating chairs, although very imposing and cal- culated to produce effect, I have not adopted ; not finding myself at ease with such things. When he is seated I lay