In former days there was an old-fashioned manner of fighting
called "gouging." In this brutal contest the combatant was
successful who could, with his thumb, press his opponent's
eyeball out. Strange to say, little serious or permanently bad
results followed such inhuman treatment of the eye. Von
Langenbeck of Berlin mentions an instance of fracture of the
superior maxilla, in which the eyeball was so much displaced as
to lodge in the antrum of Highmore. Von Becker of Heidelberg
reports the history of a case in which a blow from the horn of a
cow dislocated the eye so far back in the orbit as to present the
appearance of enucleation. The conjunctiva hid the organ from
view, but when it was pulled aside the eyeball was exposed, and
in its remote position still possessed the power of vision. In
some cases in which exophthalmos has been seemingly spontaneous,
extreme laxity of the lids may serve as an explanation. There is
an instance on record in which a Polish dew appeared in a
Continental hospital, saying that while turning in bed, without
any apparent cause, his eyeball was completely extruded. There
have been people who prided themselves on their ability to
produce partial exophthalmos.
Pages:
1032
1033
1034
1035
1036
1037
1038
1039
1040
1041
1042
1043
1044
1045
1046
1047
1048
1049
1050
1051
1052
1053
1054
1055
1056