Saturday, Apr. 14, 1923
An Artificial Eye?
A celluloid cup performing the function of lenses and inserted in the eye-socket so that light can reach the optic nerve of a blind man has been invented by Professor Katz, a Rus-sian opthahlmologist, according to newspaper stories from Petrograd. The withered tissue in the front part of the ball has been cut away and the semi-artificial eye inserted in eight patients, with restoration of sight. A reputable journalist -- Mr. Samuel Spewack, of The New York Worlds-sponsors the announcement and claims to have seen the operation demonstrated.
Dr. Katz asserts that in at least half of all cases of blindness, including the congenitally blind, the light perception nerves are intact, and that his operation will make it possible for all such to see. He is also working on an instrument called an " optophone " by which light will be transformed into sound, for the benefit of the blind in whom the light nerves are dead. The professor is a director of a hospital for 300 patients, supported by the Soviet government, but is handicapped by lack of funds, equipment and personnel. His work is done in poverty and hardship.
American eye specialists are sceptical of the cure and are waiting for further particulars. Some frankly believe it impossible. The method has not yet been published in medical journals or before scientific associations, although lack of such facilities in Russia is explicable enough. Rus-sian physicians who have seen the process are divided as to its merits. Professor Katz is reported to be eager to send technical descriptions and photographs of the operation to the Western world, but he will not leave Russia to demonstrate.