NATURE'S OWN EYE WATER.
When I began the study of medicine, my eyes were so exceedingly weak,
and had been for about ten years, or indeed always after the attack of
measles, that I was in the habit of shading them, much of the time, with
green or blue glasses. My friends, many of them, strongly objected to
any attempt to pursue the study of medicine on this very account. And
the attempt was, I confess, rather hazardous.
What seemed most discouraging in the premises was the consideration that
I had gone, to no manner of purpose, the whole round of eye waters,
elixir vitriol itself not excepted. Was there room, then, for a single
gleam of hope? Yet I was resolutely, perhaps obstinately, determined on
making an effort. I could but fail.
Soon after I made a beginning, the thought struck me, "Why not make the
experiment of frequently bathing the eyes in cold water?" At that very
moment they were hot and somewhat painful; and suiting the action to the
thought, I held my face for some seconds in very cold water. The
sensation was indescribably agreeable; and I believe that for once in my
life, at the least, I felt a degree of gratitude to God, my Creator, for
cold water.
The practice was closely and habitually followed. Whenever my eyes
became hot and painful, I put my face for a short time in water, even if
it were _twenty_ times a day. The more I bathed them, the greater the
pleasure, nor was it many days before they were evidently less inflamed
and less troublesome. Why, then, should I not persevere?
I carried the practice somewhat further still. I found from experiment,
that I could open my eyes in the water. At first, it is true, the
operation was a little painful, and I raised, slightly, its temperature.
Gradually, however, I became so much accustomed to it that the sensation
was not only less painful, but even somewhat agreeable. In a few weeks I
could bear to open my eyes in the water, and keep them open as long as I
was able to hold my breath, even at a very low temperature.
Perseverance in this practice not only enabled me to proceed with my
studies, contrary to the expectation of my friends, and in spite, too,
of my own apprehensions, but gave me in addition the unspeakable
pleasure of finding my eyes gaining every year in point of strength, as
well as clearness of sight. My glasses were laid aside, and I have never
used any for that specific purpose since that time. Of course I do not
mean by this to say that my eyes remain as convex as they were at
twenty-five or thirty years of age, for that would not be true. They
have most certainly flattened a little since I came to be fifty years of
age, for I am compelled to wear glasses when I would read or write. I
mean, simply, that they have never suffered any more from inflammation
or debility, since I formed the habit of bathing them, even up to the
present hour.
The more I observe on this subject, the more I am persuaded--apart from
my own experience--that pure water, at the lowest temperature which can
be used without giving pain, is the best known eye medicine in the
world, not merely for one, two, or ten in a hundred persons, but for
all. I recommend it, therefore, at every opportunity, not only to my
patients but to others. It may doubtless be abused, like every other
good gift; but in wise and careful hands it will often accomplish almost
every thing but downright miracles. We may begin with water a little
tepid, and lower the temperature as gradually as we please, till we come
to use it ice cold.