Selected monographs.

Date:
1861
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Selected monographs. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    which I have applied to this use, or, Ias% according to the custom of Semeleder and Stellwag, by arranging it in a similar manner to that of a pair of spectacles. The handle introduced into the mouth is a plate three and a quarter inches long, a width a little over three quarters of an inch, and a thickness of three sixteenths of an inch; the anterior extre- mity is mounted in brass, and carries laterally a small button per- forated horizontally and vertically; the stem of the mirror can be fixed in the holes of this button by means of a small screw. If we place this stem in the vertical hole, and sustain the buccal handle between the molar teeth, with this button directed outwards from the angle of the mouth, the mirror is found to be placed vertically before the eye (see Frontispiece, Plate I). If, on the contrary, the stem of the mirror is inserted into the horizontal opening, the buccal handle serves as a simple point of attachment for the stem of the mirror, and perhaps can be maintained and directed with the hand. Individuals who are in the habit of making use of ophthalmo- scopic instruments adopt, without difficulty, one or other of these arrangements. To the short-sighted, I would recommend the spec- tacles invented by Semeleder and Stellwag ; the suitable glass can be placed in the empty frame. As for myself, I give the preference to the buccal handle which I invented, because the direction and manipulation of the mirror becomes remarkably easy, and also on account of its simplicity and convenient size ; in fact, it is sufficient to close the teeth firmly to hold the handle, and to arrange the screws in the button and in the axis of the mirror, to render the last immoveable. As soon as the mirror is placed before the eye, it suffices, in order to direct the light, to execute certain slight movements with the head. ^^re obtain the most vivid light, in directing the summit of the luminous cone upon the objects to be examined ; we soon learn to place the illuminating mirror at a suitable distance from the source of light and from the laryngeal mirror. I need scarcely add that we ought to avoid placing the parts in the mouth within the focus of the mirror, when we make use of the light of the sun. With a wish, also, to employ artificial light, Dr. Turck used at first globes of glass employed by shoemakers ('Bib./ No. 10;