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GARY J. MASTMAN, M.D.; EDWARD J. BALDES, Ph.D.; JOHN W. HENDERSON, M.D.

Arch Ophthalmol. 1961;65(4):509-513.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

The concept of the hypertonicity of tears originated with Massart¹ in 1889. By instilling various solutions of different osmotic pressure into the eye, he determined by subjective responses that the concentration of a solution which produces the least discomfort corresponded to a 1.4 per cent solution of NaCl. Massart's results were accepted readily and were included in the major pharmacopeias and textbooks.

In 1930 Ridley^2,3 measured the osmotic pressure of tears of 3 persons by the depression of the freezing point and found the osmotic pressure of tears to be slightly below that of human blood.

Krogh⁴ used a modification of the Baldes⁵ vapor-pressure method for the determination of osmotic pressure. Krogh, Lund, and Pedersen-Bjergaard⁶ found the osmotic pressures of 10 samples of tears equal to those in solutions of from 0.87 to 0.92 per cent NaCl.

Schaeffer,⁷ using a capillary-tube method, estimated the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Rochester, Minn.

Fellow in Ophthalmology, Mayo Foundation (Dr. Mastman); Section of Biophysics (Dr. Baldes) and Section of Ophthalmology (Dr. Henderson), Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Jan. 13, 1961.

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