Letter of the Day: March 1 (1 of 2)

The citations listed here may very well be spelled wrong as the letter was hard to read.

 

Mar 1 / 86

 

1362 N Gilman [Baltimore, MD]

 

Dr. Jno S. Billings U.S.A.

 

My dear Doctor,

 

Dr. Alex H. Bayly of Cambridge, MD, used the artificial magnet successfully in removing spicula of iron from the cornea, in 1846.

 

I claim that this is the first use – not only in Maryland, but in the U.S.

 

I am looking up the literature of the subject to trace the earliest use of the magnet in Eye Surgery.

 

If you have the works below in your library, will you be good enough to give me the passages cited that have a bearing on this point, and the date of editions you quote from –

 

Matthiohrs Commentaria in Discodene Let 5 @ 105

 

Kirchringius Spicilegia Anat – Observ. 44

 

Fabicius Hildassus Guliet. Cent -5. Observ. 21 “Descoria chalybis cornea infixa ejusdemque inginiossissima curatone”

 

With much resp.

Yours truly

 

Jno. R. Quinan

 

Note reads “References & quotations sent March 6^th 1886.”

Ophthalmologist William Holland Wilmer's legacy in two DC institutions

Here's William Holland Wilmer's plaque at National Cathedral.



We have his ophthalmoscopes. I was surprised to see his name on a post-Christmas visit to the Cathedral.

The Ball Collection. The End.

The final step has been taken on the James Moores Ball ophthalmology collection that I worked on for lo those many months. It is now online. You may enjoy the finding aid at your leisure.

Wow Wow Wow, Ophthalmology and Dissections

The Ball Collection, and I hope you're not bored to tears with it yet, continues to wow me. Here are the treasures I uncovered today, and no pun intended. All typos are mine alone.

Acc 20836-14 Dissection of the head to show the relation of the eyeball to the orbital margin, the course of the optic nerve, the position of the optic chiasma, the trochlear nerve in its whole course, the cavernous sinus, and the semilunar or Gasserian ganglion.






Acc 20836-10 The obicularis oculi muscle dissected away from the lateral side and swung medially to show the direct continuity of its pars lacrimalis with the pretarsal or pars tarsalis fibers which run along the lid margins. The relation to the upper part of the lacrimal sac, which has been exposed by cutting through the lacrimal fascia, is shown.




Acc 20836-8 Dissection of the eyelids, third stage. The orbicularis oculi and the septum orbitale have been completely removed, and the fore edge of the aponeurosis of the levator cut away to expose the tarsal plate; the orbital fat has been cleared away. The preparation shows the supra-orbital and supra-trochlear nerves, the pulley of the superior oblique muscle, the anastomosis between the ophthalmic and angular veins, the inferior oblique muscle with its so-called "check ligament" (the only instance of this structure the writer has met), and the lacrimal gland subdivided into its two parts by the lateral horn of the aponeurosis of the levator.





Acc 20836-6 The middle concha has been pulled upwards to expose the middle meatus. The position of the fossa for the lacrimal sac relative to this wall was ascertained by driving pins through from the opposite side and is outlined in black. Rods have been passed through the opening of the sphenoid sinus and down the infundibulum of the frontal sinus; the latter leads into the hiatus semilunaris, which is bounded above by the rounded bulla ethmoidalis and below by the processus uncinatus; the ostium maxillare of the antrum is also seen.




Acc 20836-9 The relations of the lacrimal gland. Dissection of the left orbit from above and also in front to show the aponeurosis of the levator palpebrae superioris muscle and the lacrimal gland. The pulley of the superior oblique and its tendon are also seen. Natural size.

Anatomy of the Orbit

Two more illustrations from the Ball Collection, from Agatz's "Atlas zur chirurgischen Anatomie und Operationslehre," 1860. These are real beauties when viewed in a larger size.

Acc. 18938
















And Acc. 18938-2

Four more from the Ball Collection

I was able to get back to Ball today and had to scan these when I found them.


Acc 19322
Sarcoma of the iris and
Syphilitic iritis

















Acc 19321
Marginal eczema pustule and
Epithelioma involving both the cornea and conjunctiva


















Acc 19320
Spring conjunctivitis




















Acc 19319
Recent scleritis

A few more from Ball

I didn't have time to even open a box from the Ball Collection today, so these are left over from yesterday. They're all from “Miniatur-Abbildungen der wichtigsten Akiurgischen Operationen,” a book illustrating Dieffenbach's operations, by Dr. H. E. Fritze. (1838) The descriptions are transcribed and I don't have a translation. It's a fairly delicate book, which is why you can see shadows at the gutter.

Table 1: venaescetio (obviously not ophthalmic, but I liked it anyway)




















Table 5: Suturae cruentae; Staphyloraphe; Operatio labii leporini























Table 10: Paracentesis sacci lacrymalis oper. Catar. Et trichiasis; Operatio blepharoptosis et pterygii

More from the Ball Collection

Here are a few more scans from the Ball Collection. For as long as we've had it, we've thought the name was James Moore Ball. Today we discovered his middle name is Moores, with an s on the end. Just tuck that trivia away. You might need it one day.

Acc. 18873 Morbi Conjunctiva palpebrarum et bulbi. Diseases of the ocular and palpebral conjunctiva. Colored plate I from Dr. Friedrich August von Ammon's book (vol. 1).



















Acc. 18874 Diseases of the bulbar and palpebral conjunctiva. Colored plate II from Dr. von Ammon's book (vol. 1).


















Acc. 18875 Diseases of the cornea. Colored plate III from Dr. von Ammon's book (vol. 1).

More from the Ball Collection

Some original drawings I scanned from the James Moore Ball (ophthalmology) Collection. I'm making what I hope is a final pass through the 89-page finding aid, checking every folder to make sure the spelling is right. I just wish I had time to scan everything, there are such interesting images there.

Also check out our latest Flickr account for another couple from Ball.

These were done by Margaretta Washington:



Acc. 18696 Lacrimal fistula

















Acc 18697 Trachoma

















Acc 18698 Um, I don't remember. This might be tuberculosis.

















Acc 18699 Acute catarrhal conjunctivitis