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49° MODERN TIMES.
auscultation of the middle ear, and the air-douche constituted
further steps of progress in this department in the
establishment of which ITARD, LEON DELEAU, W. R.
WILDE, J. TOYNBEE, as well as W KRAMER and
several other German aurists have rendered distinguished
services.
Ophthalmology has celebrated great triumphs. A clear
insight has been gained into the causes and anatomical
changes of most diseases of the eye, the ophthalmoscope
has become an aid to diagnosis capable of solving the most
difficult questions of pathology, and many new methods of
treatment and operative measures have been added to our
resources. ADAM SCHMIDT was among the first to draw
attention to the relations existing between many diseases
of the eye and diseased conditions of other parts of the
body: he called eye-disease " the elegant diminishing
mirror of diseases of the body." The different forms of
conjunctivitis were accurately defined, and thus the real.
characteristics of the Ophthalmia AUgyptiaca s. militaris—
a disease terrifying to the people by its rapid spread and
malignity—were recognized, iritis and choroiditis were
studied, and attention was drawn to the increase of intraocular
pressure which is the real cause of glaucoma and
for which A. V. GRAEFE recommended iridectomy. In
opacities of the cornea attempts i were made to graft on. to
the place from which the cicatricial tissue had been excised
a piece of glass or part of the cornea of an animal in order
that thus the rays of light might be able to pass : or else an.
artificial pupil was formed. BEER successfully avoided the
evil results of the method of iridectomy introduced by
WENTZEL, by which affections of the lens or its capsule
were frequently induced ; this he achieved by ceasing to
detach the flap of iris -within the anterior chamber (as had
previously been done) and by introducing the procedure of
drawing it out of the corneal wound and cutting it off outside
the eye. This method was afterwards improved and
is practised to this day, whereas other methods of opera-