Eye Opener

The riveter had a tiny steel splinter imbedded deep in his left eye near the retina. Unable to reach it frontally the surgeon laid open the back of the eyeball. Then an assistant moved a pencil-like divining rod over the surface until he located precisely the right spot. The surgeon made two small incisions, moved the tip of an electromagnet close, and out popped the splinter.

This simplification of a difficult operation was reported last week by Manhattan's Mt. Sinai Hospital. It was the first use in so delicate an operation of the "metal locator" that' helped surgeons extract pieces of shrapnel from the wounded at Pearl Harbor (TIME, Jan. 19, 1942). Although simpler and quicker than X ray, the locator (which is attached to a sensitive ammeter) had hitherto been considered too crude for such fine work. The assistant who helped the Mt. Sinai surgeon use the instrument was its inventor Manhattan Subway Engineer Samuel Berman.

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