A treatise on some practical points relating to the diseases of the eye / by the late John Cunningham Saunders; to which is added, a short account of the author's life, and his method of curing the congenital cataract, by his friend and colleague, J. R. Farre. The whole illustrated by colour engravings.

  • Saunders, John Cunningham, 1773-1810.
Date:
1811
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on some practical points relating to the diseases of the eye / by the late John Cunningham Saunders; to which is added, a short account of the author's life, and his method of curing the congenital cataract, by his friend and colleague, J. R. Farre. The whole illustrated by colour engravings. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    184/290 (page 132)
    The efforts of nature in disease are sel- dom stationary, and even when they fail to accomplish the cure, the correctness of the intention may be clearly discerned: thus in the congenital cataract, after the crystalline lens is converted into an opake substance, it is gradually absorbed ; and in proportion to the progress of absorption, the anterior lamella of the capsule retires upon the pos- terior until they form one membrane, which is white, opake, and very elastic. This is the conversion of the lenticular into the capsular cataract: all that is capa- ble of being absorbed nature herself re- moves, and she only fails to accomplish her purpose^ because the capsule cannot be destroyed by this process. It will present- ly be shewn in what proportion this result occurs, and as the process is commonly completed long before the eighth year, the surgeon, who is now called upon to fulfil his engagement, finds a substance which he will in vain endeavour either to extract or depress.