He did so until about the end of 1911, when his sight had become so bad that he could barely find his way about; indeed, he met with one or two minor accidents on account of not being able to see.

It then appeared to me he had much to gain and very little to lose by an operation, and further, he was in much better health than he had been for some time.

I pointed out to him that there was a risk and that if the operation failed he would be totally blind, but that there were very long odds in his favour, and that I was willing to take the risk if he was.

He asked one question: 'If you were in my place would you have it done ?' I said certainly I would.

That quite decided him and all that remained to be done was to fix a time.