Herbert was commissioned with the IMS in 1887, and served in the Middle East and the Gulf of Aden in 1890, as surgeon.
He described "the pits" in people with trachoma, the "trap-door" method of sclerotomy in glaucoma, features of superficial punctate keratitis, and was the first to document the presence of eosinophils in conjunctivitis.
[1] On 31 March 1887, Herbert was commissioned with the IMS, and served in Middle East and the Gulf of Aden in 1890, as surgeon.
[4] The following April, he became civil surgeon at Kheda, Gujarat, where he was appointed to the district's central prison.
[6] In 1894, as surgeon-captain at Rajkot, he read his paper "Rainfall and Seasonal Cholera" at the International Congress of Hygiene at Budapest.
[7] It was discussed later that year at the first Indian Medical Congress held at St. Xavier's College, Calcutta.
These were; polluting of the waters by an extraordinary large number of people relative to the amount of available water, growth of the Vibrio cholerae aided by intense hot weather, and a particularly greater virulence of the cholera bacteria in other parts of India.
[1][13] He described the "trap-door" method of sclerotomy in glaucoma, published one of the earliest papers on superficial punctate keratitis, and was the first to document the presence of eosinophils in conjunctivitis (vernal catarrh).
[1] Herbert's books on cataract surgery were founded on his experience of 5,000 extractions performed in India.