writings of Lawrence, Waudrop, Travers, Saunders, Guthrie, and McKenzie. In this country, although we have had not a few men who have acquired a deservedly high reputation as practical oculists, yet, in comparison with what has been accomplished elsewhere, and particularly in Germany, it would be, perhaps, too much to claim, for American ophthalmology, any considerable share in the improvements that have marked its history during the last century. The great improvements alluded to, in this most imperfect sketch of the rise of modern ophthalmology, is mainly observable in the departments of physiology, pathology, and operative surgery. To give an account of the principal discoveries, and advancement in each of these divisions, would require more than one additional lecture, and can not be particularized here. The number and variety of these additions to our knowledge of the eye and its diseases, and the improved style of operating, which have been made accessible to us, by the labors and skill of the learned and capable men who have devoted themselves to these ends, are of the highest importance. They, and their authors, are deserving of all the praise that even the most enthusiastic admirer might utter. I feel no disposition to disparage either the extent or usefulness of the improvements referred to. The success that has followed the investigations, and experiments, that have been so persistently and zealously carried on in these departments, has gone far towards rescuing the science from its once debased condition, has been of immense advantage to mankind, and paved the way, perhaps, for still greater discoveries in the future. Nevertheless it must have struck every observant student of the the past history, and present state, of this branch of practice, that, in one extensive and most important department, there have been no such signs of progress and improvement as have marked the recent developments of the others. Reference is made, of course, to the department of medical ophthalmology. While the great attention that has, of late years, been paid to the morbid appearances which the eyes can possibly assume-aided by the cphthalmoscope, and other modern helps to investigation-immense advances have been made in our means of diagnosis-while a more exact knowledge of the anatomy and internal relations of these organs, and the invention of nicely adapted instruments, have, in the hands of skillful operators, brought the strictly surgical department to a wonderful degree of perfection and success-in that other practical branch of our art, which relates to the treatment of all those numerous diseases, which do not require operative interference, all is confusion, contradiction, and doubt. Whether you examine the allopathic ophthalmo-therapie of our own country, or of England, France, or Germany, the contrast which its indefiniteness and empiricism, which everywhere prevail, with the scientific accuracy of the improved pathology and surgery, is equally striking. The lack of any recognized scientific guiding principle, such as homœopathy possesses, to the selection and use of remedies, must always, as experience proves, encourage, and, in fact, necessitate, unscientific routine, or traditional treatment. It is here that homoeopathy supplies precisely what is wanting in the resources of the allopathic school. With its well attested law of similia similibus, and its extensive, and constantly aug menting, repertory of proved remedies, it undertakes the treatment of ophthalmic diseases, with the same assurance of success, that attends its judicious application in other curable disorders of the human frame. It is in the exhibition and development of this important therapeutic agency, that the New York Ophthalmic Hospital, under its present auspices, possesses advantages over other institutions of the same kind-advantages, which, if availed of, as I trust they will be, by you and those who may succeed you, will redound to the benefit of your patients, and to the greater elevation, and ultimate perfection, of our divine art. ARTICLE LXXXI. Extract from the Report Presented to the Half-Orphan Asylum, New York, at its Thirty-second Anniversary, December 19, 1867. The following extract from the report presented, at its thirty second anniversary, December 19, 1867, to the Society for the Relief of Half-Orphan and Destitute Children, established in New York, December 16, 1835, gives some results of the medical treatment in the institution from its first establishment. By refering to a former report it may be seen that the homoeopathic practice was introduced into this Asylum in 1842, under very trying circumstances, as an experiment. For the last twenty-five years it has been the exclusive treatment here. This is long to' give it a fair trial, and the close of the first quarter of a century offers a fitting occasion for a brief statement of the result. During the first seven years, from 1835 to 1842, under allopathic treatment, the average annual number was 106. Sum of the whole number annaully under treatment, 1,063. Deaths 22, or one in 48 of the whole number. Ten years, from 1842 to 1852, average number, 184. Sum of whole number annually under treatment, 2,543. Deaths 21, or one in 121 of the whole number. Ten years, from 1852 to 1862, average number annually, 232. Sum of the whole number annually under treatment, 3,202. Deaths 20, or one in 160. of the whole number. Five years, from 1862 to 1867, average annual number, 220. Sum of whole number annually under treatment, 1,554. Deaths 6, or one in 259. The rate of mortality changed under homœopathic treatment from 1 in 48, to 1 in 121; 1 in 160.; 1 in 259, or to state the fact in another manner, the mortality in the first seven years was over 20 in 1,000, and in the last twenty-five years it is only a little over 6 in 1,000. The average rate of mortality in all the other orphan asylums in the city, under the allopathic treatment during ten years, from 1842 to 1852, was more than three to our one. Having had the exclusive medical care of this Asylum for the last twenty years, and having been permitted in the good providence of God to witness the results of an honest effort, faithfully to apply the true law of cure, I feel that it is due to the patrons of homoeopathy in this institution, and to the cause of medical progress, that this statement should be made. With such a record we may thank God and take courage. It may be noticed that, while the number of children has very much increased, the mortality under homoeopathic treatment has diminished. In the first decade from 1842 to 1852, there were ten deaths from Asiatic cholera, all occurring in a few weeks, and four from a malignant typhus or ship fever, which was epidemic in the city. In the second decade from 1852 to 1862, there were five deaths from typhus fever, the epidemic continuing, and four deaths from epidemic, malignant, scarlet fever, thus accounting for 14 out of 21 deaths in the first decade, and 9 out of 20 in the second, by diseases of unusual malignancy. This is believed to be the true explanation of the fact. The causes of deaths during the last twenty-five years, were as follows: Annual Report of the New York Homœopathic Dispensary, for the year ending December 31, 1867. By JOHN S. LINSLEY, M.D. The Dispensary is located at 109 West Thirty-fourth Street. TRUSTEES. President. William H. Fogg, 32 Burling slip. Jacob Capron, 1172 Broadway; Charles Angell, 457 West Twenty-second street; H. N. Twombly, 6 Park Place; E. P. Fowler, M. D., 22 West Twenty-ninth street; Wheeler H. Peckham, 18 Wall street; C. P. Frame, 75 Liberty street; H. B. Millard, M. D., 7 East Twenty-seventh street. MEDICAL STAFF. House Physician.-John S. Linsley, M. D., 149 East Thirty-ninth street. Visiting Physician.-Theodore D. Bradford, M. D. Surgery and Diseases of Women.-August B. Throop, M. D., 71 Irving Place. Diseases of Women.--Ernst F. Hofmann, M. D., 40 East Thirtieth street. Diseases of Eye and Ear, T. D. Bradford, M. D. S. Lilienthal, M. D., 230 West Twenty-fifth street. C. Otto Ficht, M. D., 469 Sixth avenue. Joseph H. Wescott, M. D., 200 West Forty-second street. Hamilton Rickaby, M. D., 258 West Forty-second street. The Trustees of the New York Homoeopathic Dispensary, in submitting their Annual Report for the year 1867, take great pleasure in stating that the success of the Institution, as regards the amount of good it is accomplishing, has been great, and is constantly increasing. The Dispensary has been in operation only six years and seven months. How much it has done, and with what rapidity its sphere of usefulness has increased in this short space of time, may be seen from the following statement : From May 28th, 1860, to January 1st, 1861 (a period of seven months), there were treated... 1,080 patients. Total number since its establishment... 59,075 The large number of cases of vaccination (2,327) in 1865, there being that year a severe epidemic of small pox, increased the sum total of patients treated that year to a number greater than that of any other year. Leaving out such cases, the number of patients has increased. |