126.  A complete cased set of four antique ophthalmic surgical cataract knives by Weiss, London.  The handles are ivory.  A Weiss cataract knife plays prominently in the Sherlock Holmes episode The Silver Blaze....

“I presume that you made an inventory of what he had in his pockets at the time of his death, Inspector?”

“I have the things themselves in the sitting-room if you would care to see them.”

“I should be very glad.” We all filed into the front room and sat round the central table while the inspector unlocked a square tin box and laid a small heap of things before us. There was a box of vestas, two inches of tallow candle, an A D P brier-root pipe, a pouch of sealskin with half an ounce of long-cut Cavendish, a silver watch with a gold chain, five sovereigns in gold, an aluminum pencil-case, a few papers, and an ivory-handled knife with a very delicate, inflexible blade marked Weiss & Co., London.

“This is a very singular knife,” said Holmes, lifting it up and examining it minutely. “I presume, as I see blood-stains upon it, that it is the one which was found in the dead man’s grasp. Watson, this knife is surely in your line?”

“It is what we call a cataract knife,” said I.

“I thought so. A very delicate blade devised for very delicate work. A strange thing for a man to carry with him upon a rough expedition, especially as it would not shut in his pocket.”

“The tip was guarded by a disc of cork which we found beside his body,” said the inspector. “His wife tells us that the knife had lain upon the dressing-table, and that he had picked it up as he left the room. It was a poor weapon, but perhaps the best that he could lay his hands on at the moment.”

The two saws and the tourniquet and pressure pad are original to the set, though only the tourniquet is struck with the mark: MALIAR.  The two knives are period replacements and are stamped: ROSENMUND.  The leather-covered case has decorative tooling and brass fixtures.  The blue plush lining is a characteristic feature of 18th century Viennese surgical sets.

The wording of the inscription found on the cartouche of this Malliard surgical case suggests that the set may have a connection to Brambilla's promotion of quality  surgical instruments.  Brambilla had a hand in the founding, in 1785, of the Medico-Surgical Academy...the Josephinum, and served as its first director.  To encourage the advance of military surgery, Brambilla distributed surgical sets made by Malliard, in the latest fashion, to medical schools within the Austrian Empire.  Some of these sets are now at the Institute and Museum of the History of Science, Florence, and the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Vienna.