Cambridge, <1>
1st November 1818.
I had a letter from Mr Feilding <2> today, dated Kelso, <3> franked illegibly. My declamation about the Druids is so far from being over, that I have not yet begun to write it. – I think I become more shortsighted every day. It is really very unpleasant. I have been reading books on the structure of the eye, in order to find out the cause: and have arrived at the learned conclusion, that it is owing to want of due tension in the ligamentum ciliare. It occurred to me the other day, that if I was to press my eye gently with my finger, it would render the vision distinct, and upon trial I found that this was actually the case. The distinctness however is not quite so great as can be obtained by the use of a glass, owing doubtless to the pressure being irregular.
In a late number of the Journal of the Royal Institution, <4> I find a paper written by Dr Marshall Hall <5> of Nottingham, in which, among other things, he mentions it as a well known fact, that the juice of Belladonna (Nightshade) applied to the eye, occasions a temporary suspension of short sight. Now I want to know how it produces this effect. Is it astringent? Perhaps some other liquid of a gentler and less suspicious character, might prove of benefit. I have little doubt that short sight is in most cases owing to the eye having lost the power of adjusting itself through relaxation, and not to any original defect, for if so, why should it be liable to increase? I think that any person in the habit of regarding very small objects, as for instance, a watchmaker, would infallibly become short sighted, if he did not use a magnifying glass to relieve the eye. – And the question is, by what means the power of adjustment is to be restored. My opinion is that the use of some astringent liquor would strengthen the eye, and I wish you would recommend me something which if it does no good, can do no harm –
I remain, Yr Affte Son
W. H. F. Talbot
The Lady Elisabeth Feilding
Sackville St
London
Post office Brighton <7>
Notes:
1. Trinity College, Cambridge.
2. Rear Admiral Charles Feilding (1780–1837), Royal Navy; WHFT’s step-father.
3. See Doc. No: 00831.
4. Royal Institution, London.
5. Marshall Hall (1790–1857), physiologist.
6. Rev. Thomas Redman Hooker (1762-1838), WHFT's tutor at Rottingdean and a most interesting character. His career prospects were seemingly cut short when his father lost his fortune to an industrial accident. Hooker became the private secretary to the Duke of Dorset, learned French, took Holy Orders and through the Duke's influence established an influential school. His pupils included the nephews of the Duke of Wellington and of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also active in the local smuggling ring. See Arthur R. Ankers, revised by Michael Smith, Sussex Cavalcade (Sevenoaks: Hawthorns Publications, Ltd., 1992), pp. 97-100.
7. Written in another hand.