A manual of the diseases of the eye, or, treatise on ophthalmology / revised and enlarged by H. Houston.

  • Littell, S (Squier), 1803-1886.
Date:
1840
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A manual of the diseases of the eye, or, treatise on ophthalmology / revised and enlarged by H. Houston. 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.

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    occasional exacerbations, during which the sac ulcerates, and the opening either heals, or the duct having become permanently obstructed, a fistulous orifice remains. In many cases the disease disappears almost entirely during the summer months, and returns again on the approach of cold and variable weather. Causes.—It most commonly appears in young persons of strumous constitutions, and, as has already been inti- mated, may arise either primarily, or by the extension of inflammation from other parts ; as in catarrhal affections of tlie conjunctiva, and Schneiderian membrane. Treatment.—The primary indication is the removal of inflammatory action, by the employment of leeches, [^as- sisted by the inspiration of emollient vapours by the nose,3 and other appropriate remedies. When this has been effected, if the tumour do not subside, it should be occa- sionally emptied by gentle pressure, and treated with sti- mulating applications to the conjunctiva, and edges of the eydids; which operate either by correcting the morbid condition of that membrane and the Meibomian glands, or are absorbed by the puncta, and exert their influence on the mucous lining of the sac. Solutions of the nitrate of silver, the sulphates of zinc, copper, and alumina; the ointments of the white and red precipitate, and the un- guentum hydrargyri nitratis, may be beneficially employed with this view. At this period of the disease, sternuta- tories, as common snuff, or equal parts of the sub-sulphate of mercury and pulverized liquorice, sometimes prove serviceable; and in persons of strumous diathesis, atten- tion to the improvement of the digestive organs, the pre- parations of bark and iron, the shower-bath, and other