A mere statement of the condition known as congenital cataract brings to mind the picture of a young child, the subject of a succession of needling operations, followed by a corresponding series of inflammatory reactions of varying grades, terminating in indifferent results as to the ultimate vision obtained, and a lifetime of abject slavery to heavy lenses that are always out of adjustment. In view of the more recent knowledge of the crystalline lens obtained by means of the slit lamp, the procedure in the surgical treatment of congenital cataract may be modified very materially, and thus the period of invalidism to the patient greatly reduced. Ophthalmologists often fail to appreciate that congenital cataracts are developmental defects. They are often regarded merely as opaque lenses that have existed since birth. A cataract is much more than that. It is a part of a whole cycle of events. That it is