A Synopsis of the History of Ophthalmology

IT is my pleasant privilege, as a member of the Honorary Medical Staff, to extend to you a warm welcome at the beginning of this session. You are now part of a great team which is running this hospital and, as such, you will be called upon to perform your allotted tasks. This hospital may be comparatively young in years, but our forefathers have endowed us with many advantages, and our aim should be to transmit these to future generations not only unimpaired but with increased efficiency and value. In pre-clinical days your attention has mainly been directed to your books, but in the clinical period it must be divided equally between books and men. It has been said that there is no more difficult art to acquire than that of observation. The study of your fellow-men, their habits, character, mode of life, their behaviour under varied conditions, their vices, virtues, and peculiarities, is a vast and interesting subject. Don't worry too much about what you will do when you qualify. As R. L. Stevenson has said, "To travel hopefully is better than to arrive, and the true success is in labour." This session is a notable one, as after six long and arduous years of war the world is now at peace. Four hundred and twenty members of our medical profession have gone directly from our midst to serve with His Majesty's Forces, while many others who were practising in England and various parts of our Empire have also played their part. We are justly proud of this record and the achievement of these men. As ever in war, some have been called upon to make the supreme sacrifice. We honour their memory, and offer our special sympathy to those of our colleagues who have lost gallant sons. To-day it gives us sincere pleasure to welcome home the following members of our Honorary Medical Staff: Lt.-Col. J. T. Lewis, Surg.-Capt. R. S. Allison, Lt.-Col. C. A. Calvert, and Surg.-Commdr. F. A. MacLaughlin. Also to welcome home, and to our Staff, two of the newly appointed members: Brigadier Ian Itraser and Lt.-Col. Howard Crozier. We hope before long to be able to welcome Major Eric McMeekin, and to-day we welcome two other newly appointed members to our Staff: Mr. J. S. Loughridge and Mr. Ian McClure. We are glad also to see Surg.-Commdr. H. E. Hall home again, and hope that the following members of the Auxiliary Staff will soon be back with us: Majors J. C. Davidson, J. Houston, D. H. Craig, R. W. Strain, D. J. C. Dawson, and Surg.-Commdr. W. Lennon.