On Vision — First Draft Translation

ON VISION. Corrupted visions — those that become dark-blue (kyanitis) of their own accord — arise suddenly, and once they have arisen, there is no treatment of the following kind. 1 Those that become sea-colored are destroyed little by little over a long time, and often the other eye is destroyed much later. For this, one must purge the head and cauterize the veins; and if treatment is applied at the beginning, the evil stands still and does not advance toward the worse. Those intermediate between the kyanitis and the sea-colored: if they arise in a young person, they settle down when he grows older; but if they arise in an older person of seven years … he sees better; and very large, bright objects, and those directly in front, he does see, but not clearly — only what is brought very close to the eye itself, and nothing else. Purging and cauterization of the head benefit this person; but letting blood does not benefit these — neither the kyanitis nor the sea-colored. And the pupil in the eyes, when the vision of younger people is sound — whether female or male — you would do no good by doing anything, so long as the body is still in growth. 2 But when it is no longer growing, examine the eye itself, and scrape the eyelids thin — scraping, if it seems to need it — and cauterizing from within with non-transparent instruments. 3 [Text lost.] Then, having bound up [the patient], with the legs extended, and having placed a stool beneath from which the patient can brace himself with his hands; and let someone hold him at the middle. Then mark out the veins along the spine and examine them from behind. Then cauterize with thick irons and heat slowly and thoroughly, so that blood does not burst forth during the burning; let some blood out beforehand if the moment seems right. Cauterize toward the bone at the back. Then having placed an oil-soaked sponge, burn it in, except for the part closest to the bone itself; and if the sponge attaches to the cautery iron, place a more oily one in and burn it in. Then, having soaked arum in honey, place it in the eschar wounds. When you have cauterized alongside a vein or through a vein, once the eschar falls off, the vein is equally stretched and swollen and appears full, and it pulses because of what flows from below; but if the part below has been fully cauterized through, all this happens to a lesser degree. One must cauterize through again, if the first time did not complete the cauterization; the sponges must be burned in strongly, especially toward the flowing vein. Eschars that are more thoroughly burned fall off quickly. Those burned close to the bone heal more beautifully. When the wounds become healthy, they again swell up and are raised, and are red compared to the rest, and appear as though they are about to break open, until time passes — and this is the same for the head and chest when cauterized, and likewise for any other part of the body where cauterization is applied. When you are scraping the eyelids, scrape [then cauterize] with Milesian wool, tightly curled, clean, wound around a spindle, taking care to protect the crown of the eye itself, so as not to cauterize through to the cartilage. 4 The sign that the scraping has been sufficient is that bright blood no longer comes out, but a blood-tinged or watery ichor. Then one must rub with one of the liquid medicines in which flower of copper is present. Later, after the scraping and the cauterization — when the eschars have fallen off and the wounds are cleaned and budding — make an incision through the bregma. When the blood has flowed away, one must smear with a blood-stanching medicine. After this, and above all else, the work is to purge the head. For eyelids that are thicker than natural: cut away the flesh of the lower lid, as much as you can most easily manage, and afterward cauterize the eyelid with non-transparent instruments, taking care to protect the natural growth of the hairs, or draw it in with finely roasted flower of copper. 5 When the eschar falls off, treat what remains. When the eyelids become scabby and itching takes hold, grind a lump of flower of copper on a whetstone, then rub the eyelid with it; then grind the scale of copper as fine as possible; then pour in filtered juice of unripe grape and grind smooth; then, pouring the remaining mixture into red copper [vessel], rub up little by little until it reaches the consistency of pounded garlic sauce; then, after it has dried, grind smooth and use. 7 A remedy for night-blindness: let the patient drink elaterion, and have the head purged, and press the neck down as far as possible, holding the pressure for as long as possible. Then, releasing, give him raw ox liver dipped in honey — as large a piece as he is able to swallow — one or two. If someone's healthy eyes should corrupt the vision, for this person one must make an incision at the bregma, strip back the skin, saw out the bone, remove the fluid accumulation (hydrops), and treat; and in this way they become healthy. 9 For seasonal and epidemic ophthalmia, purging of the head and the lower belly is beneficial; and if the body allows it, removal of blood is beneficial for some such pains, and also cupping along the veins. Food: a little bread, and drinking of water. Lie down in darkness, away from smoke and fire and other bright things, on the side, now to the right, now to the left. Do not wet the head, since that is not beneficial. A poultice applied when there is no pain but only a held-back flux is not beneficial. For painless swellings, and after sharp medicines have been rubbed on with the pain — when both the pain has ceased and separation has occurred after the application of the medicine — then it is beneficial to apply a poultice, whichever of the poultices seems to you to be beneficial. Nor is it beneficial to look steadily for a long time, for it provokes tears, the eye being unable to labor against bright things; but neither is it beneficial to keep the eyes shut for a long time, especially if there is a warm flux — for the tear, being held in, warms. When there is no flux, it is beneficial to apply the ointment after a dry application.