Page:A synopsis of the diseases of the eye, and their treatment - to which are prefixed, a short anatomical description and a sketch of the physiology of that organ (IA synopsisofdiseas1821trav).pdf/18

PREPACE tingen, and others, have distinguished them- selves in the same field of research.

I ardently hope that the example of, German industry may operate as an incen- tive to our exertions, and should it prove so—without meaning to question the extent or value of their researches in ophthalmo- logy—I may be permitted to express my belief, that they can lay us under no deeper obligation.

Nations, like individuals, are distin- guished by a peculiar character of mind, to whatever causes attributable, evinced in their respective modes of observing, re- flecting and acting; and the sentiment of Pheedrus is as strictly applicable to the one as to the other:

“Sua cuique quum sit animi cogitatio Colorque privus — Lee

I should be sorry to see the sober sense of my countrymen perverted by a taste for fastidious distinctions. Simplicity is the characteristic feature of English Sur- gery, which is neither more nor less than

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 * Prol. Lib. V.