drop serene
Preserved but no longer current.
An old name for amaurosis, a disease of the optic nerve, causing blindness, without affecting the appearance of the eye. It was at one time thought that it was caused by a transparent, watery humour distilling on the nerve. The name is the English form of the Lat. gutta serena.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “drop serene” mean?
An old name for amaurosis, a disease of the optic nerve, causing blindness, without affecting the appearance of the eye. It was at one time thought that it was caused by a transparent, watery humour distilling on the nerve. The name is the English form of the Lat. gutta serena.
Is “drop serene” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.