On the relations between corneal diseases and refractive lesions of the eye / by George T. Stevens.

  • Stevens, George T. (George Thomas), 1832-1921.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the relations between corneal diseases and refractive lesions of the eye / by George T. Stevens. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN CORNEAL DISEASES AND REFRACTIVE LESIONS OF THE EYE. Of the various structures of the human body, few have been subjected to such thorough, critical, and we may add profitable, examinations in respect to the histology and pathology of their tissues, as has the cornea. The names of many of the most learned and illustrious investigators are inseparably connected with this small structure, and the extent and value of their researches indicate its importance. Yet it must be conceded that of the advantages derived from the histological and pathological studies of this part, comparatively few have reverted to the structure itself, and candid observers must agree that in the etiology of corneal diseases the advance has not been in proportion to the added knowledge of its structure and pathology. A review of the history of the etiology of corneal diseases would show that, since writers of half a century ago, after allowing for the agency of mechanical and chemical injuries and the pressure incident to certain forms of conjunctival disease, united in ascribing the cause of corneitis to scrofula and arthritis, few important advances have been made in determining the causation of these diseases. To the genius of Mr. Hutch- inson we owe the discovery that in a clearly defined class of cases of cor- neal disease, the cause may be found in the diathesis peculiar to inherited syphilis, and that if we would best meet the indications for treatment in these cases we must directly attack the inherited taint. But the propor- tion of such cases is not large, and there remain after excluding those which arise from mechanical pressure, injuries, chemical irritations, and a few other exceptional causes, the very large residuum of cases which by nearly all authors are regarded as manifestations of struma. Of phlyctenulse of the cornea, the form of corneal disease which the surgeon most frequently encounters, a learned French writer of recent times^ says that the pustules are the first and the most frequent manifesta- tion of scrofula; they are, he says, benign scrofulous exudations. Although this view is not fully accepted by some modern winters, it meets with but the mildest opposition, and the doctrine that the prevailing cause of corneal diseases and especially of phlyctenulse is struma, is, I believe, the one generally accepted. The truth io that the condition called struma is far more frequently developed by corneal diseases than are corneal troubles developed by struma. One of the most positive evidences of the exist- ence of struma, is supposed to be found in the presence of enlarged cer- vical glands, but the enlargement of these glands does not usually precede the corneal disease, but is its result. The fact, well known to ophthalmic surgeons, that patients who have been cured of corneal diseases are quite liable to return after a few months. ' Bazin, LeQons sur la Scrofale.