plexus, which accompany the mesenteric and coeliac arteries, &c.

And next of more miscellaneous matters. Although I have before mentioned the necessity of attending to diseases in their incipient stages, yet I would here again press on my readers the importance of this fact; since the majority of diseases, if treated in time, that is, before change of structure has supervened, can be either cured or materially relieved; while if neglected, even trifling maladies often become formidable, and not unfrequently prove fatal.

In treating of diseases of the eye, I have remarked that staphyloma, arthritic iritis, and cancer, when confirmed, do not, at least with the means we at present possess, admit of cure; but that ophthalmia, cataract, amaurosis, and many other diseases of the eye, are within our reach. Some practitioners, however, contend that there is no cure for a true cataract except by an operation; at the same time admitting that the spurious may be cured. Now I humbly conceive it can be a matter of very little importance to the sufferer (provided he is cured without the pain and danger of an operation) to be told, when he is quite well,

that his disease was only spurious. With regard to amaurosis, it has also by some been considered as incurable, though much light has lately been thrown on it by our own and by continental practitioners; and when we remember the numerous causes which give rise to this disease, and the pain and inconvenience it produces, it obviously deserves particular attention.

The science of optics seems to have gained ground in this country, in proportion as acoustics has been neglected; for, perhaps, in no country in Europe have spectacles, readingglasses, &c. been more correctly and better made: a proof of which is, that most foreigners who require glasses are said to procure them when in England. On the other hand, truth compels me to add, that while we make the best glasses, we also make many of the very worst; so that spectacles formed of common window-glass, polished only on one side, are hawked about at low prices, by which the eyes of the poorer classes are frequently more injured than in any other way.

To the subject of acoustics I have paid much attention, and have contrived many artificial means for the assistance of the deaf. Among these, the chief is my Acoustic Chair, constructed on the principle of the Invisible

Girl; and a person while sitting in it perfectly at ease, by means of pipes branching from the chair into the apartment or apartments whence it is desired to collect the conversation, &c. can hear distinctly whatever transpires. In fact, the principle is susceptible of being so much extended, that sound can in this way be conveyed for the distance of two or three miles, if the necessary length of pipe be connected with the barrel of sound, which possesses amazing capabilities.* A model of this chair may be seen at the National Gallery of Practical Science in Adelaide Street.

Many old practitioners were fond of using herbs in the treatment of diseases of the eye: indeed, my own father, who was a physician, and my uncle the late Mr. William Curtis, the celebrated botanist, who instituted the herbarizing at Apothecaries' Hall, as well as their grandfather, John Curtis, formerly a surgeon at Alton in Hampshire, all held plants in great estimation as external applications in diseases of the eye; the best of them are

* For an account of this chair, see my Treatise on the Ear; and for evidences of its value and merits, see the Literary Gazette, Mechanics' Magazine, &c.

&c.

+ Author of the Botanical Magazine, Flora Londinensis,

garden angelica, betony, land caltrop, centaury, charlock, eyebright, garden fennel, scented flag, garden flax, germander, goutwort, wild barley, hemlock, and herb frankincense. For myself, I cannot speak as to their efficacy, never having tried them; but as they are all easily to be procured, they deserve attention. It appears that they were once fashionable, our forefathers considering the eye as a more delicate organ than their descendants appear to do; for, having abandoned herbs, we took to minerals, and now nothing is in vogue but the knife. Hence it is not improbable, that herbs may again, at some future day, be extensively employed in curing diseases of the eye.

By modern surgeons, however, the idea of the eye being so very tender an organ, is little regarded; they say it is wonderful what it can bear; and indeed, to see some of them operate upon it, one might fancy they were cutting a cork!

I shall now give a few of the cases which have come under my own observation, as illustrative of the mode of treatment I have recommended; and that they may be the more easily understood, I have made them as plain and at the same time as concise as possible.

CASES.

CASE I.

MISS N. a young lady of delicate frame, in consequence of the sudden death of her mother was seized with an apoplectic fit: after her recovery, it was perceived that her vision was nearly extinct. As she complained of much pain in the head, I took some blood from behind the ears, and applied a blister to the nape of the neck, which was kept open for three weeks; the bowels were evacuated, and she made use of the pediluvium. It is a singular fact, that before this attack she was frequently so deaf as to be obliged to use a trumpet. She has now quite recovered her health, with the assistance of the cascarilla bark joined with calumba: her sight and hearing are also perfectly restored.