On the nature and treatment of some of the more important diseases, medical & surgical : including the principal diseases of the eye / by John Charles Hall.

Hall, John Charles, 1816-1876.

Date:: 1844

Credit: On the nature and treatment of some of the more important diseases, medical & surgical : including the principal diseases of the eye / by John Charles Hall. 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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$observes, “ in such a system then of intricate connexion and mu- tual influence, each part will be best understood by him who has the clearest notions of the general economy. Even the practical treatment is most judiciously conducted by those who are in the habit of treating disease generally ; who do not confine their at- tention to the part. This confinement is prejudicial, by producing and confirming habits of partial and narrow views, by leading to neglect of mutual relations and influences, bv encouraging local treatment. Exclusive attention to a small corner of the animal structure, causes a confinement of mental vision, analogous to the near-sightedness which mechanics contract by constantly poring over the minute objects of their attention. All the habits of the oculist lead to a separation and insulation of the organ. The part is detached from the system, treated by washes, drops, oint- ments; and this inefficient trifling impedes the progress of opthal- mic surgery. We want, instead of this, general and comprehensive views, the aid of analogy and contrast; the whole field of medicine and surgery must be laid under contribution, for the principles which are to guide us in learning the nature and treatment of opthalmic disease.” It is foolish to attempt to separate the study of diseases of the eye from that of other organs of the body, for although attempts have been made to insinuate that a good knowledge of diseases of the eye and a due acquaintance with the various other branches of the medical profession were incompatible, and that the former could only be obtained at the cost of the latter; if this be true, the rule which applies to every other class of knowledge, and which admits that the possession of one kind of information, is a ladder which enables us to climb to the attainment of another, must here be reversed and that in fact a good opthalmologist must needs be a very bad practitioner.—“Such statements can only be regarded, says Mr. Middlemore, “as the product of ignorance, or the result of selfishness or ill-nature, or as proceeding from motives of a still more worthless and questionable character. It is a lamentable fact, yet nevertheless a true one, that the study of diseases of the eye forms a very small portion of the time devoted to the education of a medical student, the short space in which too many are compelled to obtain their professional educa- tion renders it quite impossible that many hours can be de\oted$