THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE ELECTRO-MAGNET FOR THE EXTRACTION OF FOREIGN BODIES FROM THE EYE, WITH A REPORT OF TEN CASES.Read in the Section on Ophthalmology, at the Forty-fourth Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association.

Abstract

In the history of the use of the magnet on the eye we can distinguish two phases: 1, the use of the common magnet; 2, of the electro-magnet. The first one dates back as far as two hundred and fifty years ago, when Dr. Fabry of Cologne, used a magnet to remove a piece of iron from the superficial layers of the cornea. In 1842 Dr. Meyer from Minden (Germany), used a magnet, carrying thirty-two pounds, to remove a piece of steel out of the interior through the scleral wound. The first one who made a section through the sclera in order to remove a piece of steel with a magnet from the vitreous was Dr. McKeown of Belfast in 1874. In 1875 Hirschberg of Berlin, made a similar trial without result. These are the instances of the use of the common magnet we find in literature. The second phase