A Second Account of the New Method of Opening the Cornea, for Taking Away the Cataract; by Samuel Sharp, Surgeon to Guy’s Hospital, and F. R. S. - 1753

The 18th century saw new techniques being developed to deal with many of the medical problems that were afflicting the population. This paper, A Second Account of the New Method of Opening the Cornea, for Taking Away the Cataract; by Samuel Sharp, Surgeon to Guy’s Hospital, and F. R. S., dealt with a new method for removing cataracts from a patient’s eyes and thereby eliminating its associated loss or lessening of sight. This paper is a follow-up to his previous paper in which he disclosed the essence of his process, and he is now presenting the results of the operation on eleven patients, including what problems appeared and what changes in the technique are reasonable. As he says in the first paragraph of the paper, ‘...I had the honor, last April, to lay before the Society a new method of opening the cornea, in order to take away the cataract; being intended as an improvement on Monsieur Daviel’s manner of doing the operation: and having now practiced it on several subjects, I here take the liberty to give a short account of the success, with a few observations on the principal phenomena attending this operation; to which I shall add a description of a farther improvement of the operation itself…”.

We are offering a First Edition copy of the paper, as read before the Society on Nov 22, 1753 and published in the Philosophical Transactions, Vol. 48 For the Year 1753-1754 pages 322 to 331. The paper has been extracted and disbound from the volume. The booklet, which measures approximately 6 x 8 ½ inches, has pages that are tanned, but the text is clear and easily read (as long as you are comfortable with the then-current presentation of the letter “s” within words). The overall condition of the paper, considering its age and being extracted from its original covers, is very good.

Samuel Sharp FRS (1709–1778) was an English surgeon and author. As a surgeon at Guy’s Hospital, from 1733 to 1757, was internationally famous. His A Treatise on the Operations of Surgery (1st ed., 1739), was the first British study focuses exclusively on operative technique. [Wikipedia]