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The saps of some plants are known to be highly irritant to the eye. We have recently seen a patient in whom accidental splashing with the sap of Euphorbia royleana caused acute bilateral conjunctivitis with corneal ulceration and iridocyclitis. Euphorbia royleana

The nature ofsenile capsular exfoliation is not clear, although at present it is often regarded, on insufficient evidence, as pseudoexfoliation, exudative in character, and possibly derived from the uvea as a result of low-grade inflammation. We have recently seen nine cases which throw light on the pathogenesis of capsular exfoliation.

ExaminationThe left eye was found to have moderate circumcorneal congestion; the cornea was oedematous and hazy, and the anterior chamber was deep and contained turbid aqueous but no keratic precipitates. The pupil was moderately dilated and pupillary reactions were well preserved though somewhat sluggish. The iris pattern was normal and the hypermature cataractous lens was in situ. Visual acuity was reduced to perception of light with inaccurate projection in the nasal quadrant. The ocular tension was raised to 58 mm. Hg (Schiotz). Treatment A clinical diagnosis of phakolytic glaucoma was made and the patient was given acetazolamide and oral corticosteroids. This gave considerable subjective relief but the cornea continued to be oedematous with aqueous flare +, and intraocular pressure of 40 mm. Hg.Paracentesis was done on April 2 and repeated on April 8, followed by upper pole combined intracapsular cataract extraction (sector iridectomy) with forceps on April 9. Result Postoperative recovery was uneventful and the patient was discharged on April I7. At his last visit on July 17, 197I, the visual acuity had improved to 6/I2 with +8 D sph., + i D cyl., axis Io0.Case 2, a 56-year-old Hindu male, came to the out-patients department on March 9, I97I, with the complaint of headache and severe pain in the left eye of 4 days' duration. At previous examinations he had been found to have a mature cataract in this eye for the last 8 years, and this had become hypermature a year earlier.

With the advent of modern ophthalmic treatment the use of mercury preparations in ophthalmology has almost been relegated to past history, but mercurous chloride (calomel) is still occasionally used as an insufflation into the eyes, especially in such conditions as phlyctenular keratoconjunctivitis. Recently we saw a case wherein mercuric chloride (HgCl2) was mistaken for calomel and dusted into the right eye of a young woman suffering from phlyctenular keratoconjunctivitis with disastrous results. Case reportA 1g-year-old married woman came to the eye out-patients department on September I 6, I 97 I, of Snowden Hospital, Simla, with the complaint ofphotophobia and the presence of a nodule at the lower limbus of the right eye of one week's duration. The junior casualty officer noted a large phlycten at the limbus at the 6 o'clock position and inadvertently dusted mercuric chloride into the eye after putting in a drop of xylocaine.The patient immediately complained of severe pain in the eye and although the eye was thoroughly flushed with normal saline within a minute the whole cornea became opaque, and the conjunctiva, especially on the globe, lost its lustre and became whitish with widespread necrosis.The eye was dressed with atropine I per cent. and hydrocortisone eye ointment and the patient was admitted to hospital. Within 2 hours gross oedema of the lids necessitated examination with lid retractors (Fig. I). The conjunctiva was extensively necrosed and blanched and in places markedly chemosed and ballooned, thus hiding the cornea, which was oedematous, cloudy, and denuded of epithelium; the anterior chamber, iris, pupil, lens, and fundus could not be seen because of the opaque cornea.The patient was given oral prednisolone IO mg. 4-hrly and chloramphenicol 250 mg. 6 hrly. Betamethasone eye drops were given hourly, with atropine, terramycin, and cortisone eye ointment every 4 hours.By the evening the pain was relieved and the palpebral and conjunctival oedema became a little less. By next morning the oedema was considerably less while the cornea showed signs of clearing (Fig. 2). The frequency of local corticosteroid drops was reduced to six times a day while the rest of the regime was continued.