The Nature of the Ocular Lesions Produced Experimentally by Naphthalene

IT may appear a strange digression from clinical ophthalmology to discuss the action upon the eye of such an unphysiological substance as naphthalene. It has long been known, however, that dosage with this substance is a convenient method for the experi- mental production of cataract, especially in rabbits,' and as Burdon Cooper has pointed out (Doyne Memorial Lecture, 1922)-" Naphthalene cataract is one of the most important experimental cataracts, as of all the types it most resembles the subcapsular senile variety, and it gives us some indication where to look for the cause of the human disease." This view is being justified bv the fact that recent investigations of naphthalene cataract, performed from the biochemical standpoint, have yielded results which suggest that naphthalene may produce its effects through a metabolic disturbance rather than by any specific toxic action. The comparison of these biochemical changes with any which mav occur in human senile cataract has, however, yet to be made, in order to reveal any similarity between the two conditions.