cataracta

Updated: May 24, 2025

Indeed Gilbert says, "Ungula, egilops, cataracta and macula are species of pannus, all arising from the same causes and cured by the same treatment." The truth is none of these writers seem to have any very definite knowledge of the distinction between the various opacities of the media of the eye, all of which were included under the general term pannus.

Henry E. (Henry Ebenezer) Handerson - Gilbertus Anglicus: Medicine of the Thirteenth Century

Singularly the word is not found in the "Chirurgia" of Roger of Parma, from whom Gilbert seems to have borrowed most of his surgical knowledge. Nor is it employed by Roland, Roger's pupil and editor. But in all these writers cataracta seems to be included under the general term pannus, meaning opacities of every kind.

Henry E. (Henry Ebenezer) Handerson - Gilbertus Anglicus: Medicine of the Thirteenth Century