Case 538. (Hurst, November, 1916.)

An English private, 22, was looking over a parapet, July 18, 1915. He afterward remembered sand thrown in his eyes and a fall backward, hitting his head, after a shell had struck the sandbags in front of him. He was unconscious 24 hours. Upon recovery, he found himself completely blind, save that he could just tell light from darkness with the left eye. His eyes were sore and eyelids blackened; there was also severe headache and partial deafness.

Hearing returned and the headache improved shortly; but the condition of the eye seemed more permanent. On forcibly opening the eyes, September 14, they were turned far upwards so that the iris could scarcely be seen. Some sand grains were buried in the conjunctiva, not in the cornea. There was no inflammation about the sand grains.

In hypnosis, he was told that he would see on waking. The moment he woke, this suggestion was repeated forcibly and his eyes were held open. He cried out that he could see; tears ran down his cheeks; he fell on his knees in gratitude. Three days later, he said he was able to see as well as he had ever seen. There was, however, an opacity of the vitreous of the left eye, the result of a retinal hemorrhage: doubtless the result of injury at the time of the explosion. September 30, he had perfect vision in the right eye and 6/36 in his left.

Re results of hypnotic treatment, Lt.-Col. Myers, summarizing 23 cases of Shell-shock, got apparently complete cures in 26 per cent, and distinct improvement in another 26 per cent. He failed to hypnotize 35 per cent, and got no improvement after hypnosis in 13 per cent. Is the recovery after hypnosis complete and permanent? Lt.-Col. Myers believes that it may be, but others remark the tendency to relapse (see Case 534). Similar objections may be made to the psychoelectric treatment as used by Vincent, Yealland, or Kaufmann. See under Case 535.