Two cases of quinine amaurosis, from the practice of Dr. C.R. Agnew and Dr. D. Webster / by David Webster.

  • Webster, David, 1842-1923.
Date:
[1883?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Two cases of quinine amaurosis, from the practice of Dr. C.R. Agnew and Dr. D. Webster / by David Webster. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    lines in front. Now the objects seen on either side are dark, while those in front are still in the outlines of golden light. Her eyes were examined by a competent physician on August 10th and nth, and he pronounced her case one of “anaemia of the retina.” He said that the retina was white, and the blood¬ vessels in it like white threads ; that nothing but nutrition and new blood could remedy the trouble, and he hoped much from these. Another ophthalmologist examined her eyes about the middle of October, and arrived at the same conclusion. Present condition : Right eye, vision = ^-5. Left eye, vision = yjy. Ophthalmoscopic appearances : Disks perfectly white and arte¬ ries entirely obliterated and replaced by white lines ; the very few minute retinal vessels have white lines along their sides. There are a few white, fleecy-looking connective-tissue changes in the retina near the disk and a mottled appearance of the choroid. The pupils dilate downward and outward nearly sym¬ metrically, and there are deposits on the anterior capsules of the lenses. The patient was given a course of hypodermic injections of nitrate of strychnia, but without apparent benefit. In both the above cases the blindness was evidently due either to the “congestive chill ” or to the poisonous effects of the qui¬ nine. After reading most of what has been published upon the subject of late, I am decidedly of the opinion that they were gen¬ uine cases of “ quinine amaurosis.” Extended remarks upon the subject seem to be uncalled for. Dr. Knapp has gone into the whole subject rather exhaustively in an article printed in Vol. X of the Archives of Ophthalmology, and to this I beg to refer those who wish to know more about it. I may just add that cases have been published by Graefe, Wecker, Roosa, Voorhies, Michel, Gruening, Baldwin, and Baumgarten, all of which are referred to and analyzed in Knapp’s paper.