Historical Excerpts and Quotations Corner

Historical Excerpts and Quotations Corner

“For indeed it is well said, ‘in every object there is inexhaustible meaning; the eye sees in it what the eye brings means of seeing.’ To Newton and to Newton’s Dog Diamond, what a different pair of Universes; while the painting on the optical retina of both was, most likely, the same!”

– Thomas Carlyle, “The French Revolution, 1837”

“There has never been a wise man who hasn’t failed to prefer the lie invented by himself to the truth discovered by someone else.”

– Rousseau quoted by Santiago Ramón y Cajal in “Advice to a Young Investigator”

Gunn's Dots



Note the tiny white dots on the superficial retina.

“On examining now with the ophthalmoscope by the direct method the following condition is found. In the right eye there are very minute, yellowish white, shining dots in the retina for some distance around the disc, especially to the nasal side and below; in distribution these dots are remarkably equidistant from one another, and are situated anteriorly to the largest retinal blood-vessels, each being less than one fifth of the diameter of a large vessel; the outline of the disc is rather indistinct, the large vessels full and somewhat tortuous. The left eye shows a similar condition, the the disc outline is more blurred than in the right. This appearance is most easily seen seen when the light is thrown somewhat obliquely on the part of the retina to be examined; the dots will then be seen to stand out well near the border of the image of the flame.”

Marcus Gunn 1883

These dots are currently felt to be harmless and not associated with any retinal disease but studies are inconclusive what they are. They are located in the area of the most superficial part of the retina and decrease with age. Are they Muller cells from the retina, or hyalocytes from the vitreous?

Ophthalmic History Editors: Daniel M. Albert, MD, MS Donald L. Blanchard, MD