HISTORICAL REVIEW
Simple enucleation is not the most ancient surgical means of ridding the orbit of the eye. On the contrary, other surgical procedures were adopted until one hundred years ago. In the earlier period an operation that peeled the eye from its capsule was considered brutal as compared with procedures in which the eye was cut open rapidly and the contents eviscerated. To accomplish the latter, it was not unusual to cut away the cornea.Recall what was designated in an earlier period (1583) as an extirpation—today justifiably denominated the butchery of George Bartisch.1 He transfixed the eye, having passed through it a large curved needle threaded with tape, and then, pulling on the tape, cut the eye away.Though Cleoburey2 introduced the classic enucleation of the eye in 1826, his procedure was not adopted until 1855. Its performance was naturally slow, requiring dexterity and skill. Anesthetics