DID YOU KNOW that for all the advances in ophthalmology by the end of the 19th century, many traditional practices, home remedies, and deleterious drugs were still in widespread use? Apothecaries compounded a range of eye preparations using mercury in several forms, including mercury bichloride, silver nitrate, zinc sulfate, zinc oxide, copper sulfate, alum, lead subacetate, tincture of iodine, sodium borate, camphor, and opium.