1534 AETIUS OF AMIDA [ἈΈΤΙΟΣ ἈΜΙΔΗΝΌΣ; AETIUS AMIDENUS; AËTIUS] (450 – 550)
Bιβλίων ὶαтριкω̂ν тομος ά. Librorum medicinalium tomus primus, primi scilicet libri octo nunc primum in lucem editi.
First printed edition in the original Greek of the first half of the Tetrabiblion, issued in Venice by the heirs of Aldus Manutius. In the Tetrabiblion Aetius collected together works of other men which might have bee…
GMN 33 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8757
1538 ANONYMOUS
Ein newes hochnutzlichs Büchlin von erkantnus der Kranckheyten der Augen....
The first separate publication on diseases of the eye after Grassi (1474). This very rare anonymous work was intended, according to its title, to provide highly useful knowledge of the anatomy of the eye, and eye dise…
GMN 6932 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9097
1539 FUCHS, Leonhart (1501 – 1566)
Alle Kranckheyt der Augen ... allen augen artzten hochnöttig zuwissen ....
The first work on ophthalmology after Grassi (1474) written by a known physician. At the end of the anonymous Büchlin issued by the same publisher in 1538 (No. 6932) the writer promises a bigger and better work on eye…
GMN 6933 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9098
1622 BANISTER, Richard (1570 – 1626)
A treatise of one hundred and thirteene diseases of the eyes.
Although much of this is a translation of Guillemeau (No. 5818), the first 112 pages are Banister’s own work, “Banister’s Breviary”. He was an itinerant but honest oculist, the first to point out that hardness of the …
GMN 5820 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7036
1684 BRIGGS, William (1642 – 1704)
Two remarkable cases relating to vision.
Includes the first known description of nyctalopia.
GMN 5822 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7045
1702 STAHL, Georg Ernst (1660 – 1734)
Propempticon inaugurale, De fistula lacrimali. Published as addendum to: LANGE, ERNST CHRISTIAN. Disputatio inauguralis medica de affectibus oculorum in genere… sub praesidio… Stahl.
Stahl was the first to treat lacrimal fistula on the basis of correct anatomical understanding. He described his treatment in an addendum to the thesis on eye disease of his student, Lange.
GMN 5823 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7049
1709 BRISSEAU, Michel (1676 – 1743)
Traité de la cataracte et du glaucoma.
Brisseau was the first to demonstrate the true nature and location of cataract. His book was reprinted in facsimile, 1921.
GMN 5825 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7061
1768 HEBERDEN, William Sr. (1710 – 1801)
Of the night-blindness or nyctalopia.
A classic description of nyctalopia. Report of a single case.
GMN 5831 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7081
1791 BEER, Georg Joseph (1763 – 1821)
Praktische Beobachtungen über verschiedene, vorzüglich aber über jene Augenkrankheiten, welche aus allgemeinen Krankheiten des Körpers entspringen.
“This is the first monograph ever published dealing with ocular signs of systemic disease. It deals with lacrimal fistulas, trichiasis, adhesions of the lids, lid ulcers, ephiphora, and ocular inflammations. He illust…
GMN 5833.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7103
1800 –1801 LARREY, Dominique Jean (1766 – 1842)
Mémoire sur l’ophtalmie régnante en Egypte.
The great military surgeon Larrey served during the Napoleonic campaign in Egypt, where he was the first to observe the contagiousness of trachoma shortly after the successful invasion in 1798. The disease spread to E…
GMN 5837 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7120
1801 SCARPA, Antonio (1752 – 1832)
Saggio di osservazioni e d’esperienze sulle principali malattie degli occhi.
This beautifully illustrated work was the first textbook on the subject to be published in the Italian language. Its author has been called “the father of Italian ophthalmology”. English translation, London, 1806.
GMN 5835 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7111
1801 SCHMIDT, Johann Adam (1759 – 1809)
Ueber Nachstaar und Iritis nach Staaroperationen.
Inflammation of the iris was named iritis by Schmidt. In 1801, with Himly, he founded the first journal devoted to ophthalmology, the Ophthalmologische Bibliothek. Digital facsimile of Schmidt's 1801 work from the Int…
GMN 5836 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7115
1807 VETCH, John (1783 – 1835)
An account of the ophthalmia which has appeared in England since the return of the British Army from Egypt.
Vetch described trachoma.
GMN 5839 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7142
1808 –1818 WARDROP, James (1782 – 1869)
Essays on the morbid anatomy of the human eye. 2 vols.
Wardrop was the first to classify the various inflammations of the eye according to the structures attacked. He was also the first to use the term “keratitis”.
GMN 5840 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7146
1812 –1817 LARREY, Dominique Jean (1766 – 1842)
Mémoires de chirurgie militaire, et campagnes. (Vol. 5 entitled Relation médicale de campagnes et voyages.) 5 vols.
Larrey was the greatest military surgeon in history. Of him Napoleon said: “C’est l’homme le plus vertueux que j’ai connu”. He was present at all Napoleon’s great battles and one of the few who stood by him on his abd…
GMN 2160 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/888
1813 –1817 BEER, Georg Joseph (1763 – 1821)
Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten. 2 vols.
Beer is remembered for his textbook; the doctrines in it dominated practice for many years. He described the symptoms of glaucoma and noted the luminosity of the fundus in aniridia. He also presented for the first tim…
GMN 5842 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7153
1818 DEMOURS, Antoine Pierre (1762 – 1836)
Traité des maladies des yeux. 3 vols. and atlas.
Includes the first description of glaucoma in which heightened intraocular pressure is recognized, credit for which goes to the author’s father, Pierre Demours (1702-95), whose portrait appears in the atlas in recogni…
GMN 5842.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7157
1820 TRAVERS, Benjamin (1783 – 1858)
A synopsis of the diseases of the eye.
The earliest systematic treatise in English on diseases of the eye. The book became the authority in Europe and America. Travers, a pupil of Sir Astley Cooper, became surgeon to St. Thomas’s Hospital.
GMN 5843 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7161
1823 FRICK, George (1793 – 1870)
A treatise on the diseases of the eye.
First American textbook of ophthalmology by the first American who is believed to have restricted his practice to diseases of the eye. Frick studied under Georg Beer in Vienna.
GMN 5844 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7164
1827 AIRY, Sir George Biddell (1801 – 1892)
On a peculiar defect in the eye, and a mode of correcting it.
Airy, Britain's Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881, was the first to devise a sphereocylindrical lens for correcting astigmatism, a condition from which he himself suffered in his left eye. Airy's method is still used…
GMN 5847 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7171
1830 MACKENZIE, William (1791 – 1868)
A practical treatise on diseases of the eye.
In this book Mackenzie, one of the foremost ophthalmologists of his time, included a classic description of the symptomatology of glaucoma, and was probably the first to draw attention to the increase of intra-ocular …
GMN 5848 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7172
1833 LAWRENCE, Sir William (1783 – 1867)
A treatise on the diseases of the eye.
Based on lectures delivered by Lawrence at the London Ophthalmic Infirmary. He was a surgeon to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; he succeeded Abernethy as lecturer on surgery and did much to advance the surgery of the eye.
GMN 5849 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7174
1835 JULLIARD, Etienne François
De l’emploi de l’excision et de la cautérisation à l’aide du nitrate d’argent fondu dans l’ophthalmie blennorrhagique.
Silver nitrate for treatment of gonococcal ophthalmia. Digital facsimile from wellcomecollection.org at this link.
GMN 5850 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7177
1838 –1847 AMMON, Friedrich August von (1799 – 1861)
Klinische Darstellungen der Krankheiten und Bildungsfehler des menschlichen Auges, der Augenlider und der Thränenwerkzeuge nach eigenen Beobachtungen und Untersuchungen. 4 pts.
This great color-plate atlas is probably the best summary of the knowledge of diseases of the eye prior to the introduction of the ophthalmoscope.
GMN 5852 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7188
1838 CARRON DU VILLARDS, Charles Joseph Frédéric (1801 – 1860)
Guide pratique pour l’étude et le traitement des maladies des yeux. 2 vols.
Carron du Villards taught ophthalmology in Paris; his book is one of the best of the period.
GMN 5853 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7192
1842 BOLTON, James (1812 – 1869)
A treatise on strabismus, with a description of new instruments designed to improve the operation for its cure.
GMN 5855 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7499
1845 WALTHER, Phillipp Franz von (1782 – 1849)
Ueber die Hornhautflecken.
First description of corneal opacity.
GMN 5860 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7221
1851 –1856 ARLT, Carl Ferdinand von (1812 – 1887)
Die Krankheiten des Auges. 3 vols.
Arlt described granular conjunctivitis (“Arlt’s trachoma”) and an operation for transplantation of the ciliary bulbs in the treatment of distichiasis.
GMN 5865 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7234
1852 –1859 SICHEL, Jules (1802 – 1868)
Iconographie ophtalmologique. 1 vol. and atlas.
This work and that of Ammon (No. 5852) remain the greatest preophthalmoscopic atlases of ophthalmology.
GMN 5868 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7248
1853 TÜRCK, Ludwig (1810 – 1868)
Ein Fall von Hamorrhagie der Netzhaut beider Augen.
Türck was the first to note the correlation of retinal hemorrhage with tumors of the brain.
GMN 5870 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7261
1854 –1855 GRAEFE, Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht von (1828 – 1870)
Vorlaüfige Notiz über das Wesen des Glaucoms.
GMN 5872 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7264
1854 MECKEL VON HEMSBACH, Heinrich (1821 – 1856)
Die pyämische Ophthalmie in Beziehung zur feinsten Organisation des Entzündungs-Produkts und zu der eigenthümlichen Struktur des Glaskörpers.
First account of metastatic ophthalmia.
GMN 5875 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7271
1855 BENDZ, Jacob Christian (1802 – 1858)
Quelques considérations sur la nature de l’ophthalmie dite militaire, par rapport à son apparition dans l’armée danoise depuis 1851.
Description of trachoma.
GMN 5876 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7272
1856 WILLIAMS, Henry Willard (1821 – 1895)
Iritis – non-mercurial treatment.
The second and third papers are entitled “On the treatment of iritis without mercury”.
GMN 5878 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7276
1857 GRAEFE, Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht von (1828 – 1870)
Ueber die Iridectomie bei Glaucom und über den glaucomatösen Process.
Iridectomy for the treatment of glaucoma was introduced by Graefe.
GMN 5881 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7283
1859 GRAEFE, Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht von (1828 – 1870)
Ueber Embolie der Arteria centralis retinae als Ursache plötzlicher Erblindung.
Discovery of embolism of the retinal artery as a cause of sudden blindness.
GMN 5882 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7284
1865 HOLMGREN, Alarik Frithiof (1831 – 1897)
Method att objectivera effecten av ljusintryck pa retina.
Discovery of the electroretinogram, the beginning of the use of electrophysiological methods for studying visual systems.
GMN 1511.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2602
1866 GRAEFE, Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht von (1828 – 1870)
Zur Lehre der sympathischen Ophthalmie.
A classic contribution to the literature of sympathetic ophthalmia.
GMN 5898 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7390
1868 GRAEFE, Friedrich Wilhelm Ernst Albrecht von (1828 – 1870)
Ueber Ceratoconus.
Classic description of conical cornea (keratoconus).
GMN 5900 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7398
1870 SAEMISCH, Edwin Theodor (1833 – 1909)
Das Ulcus corneae serpens und seine Therapie.
First description of serpiginous ulcer of the cornea and its treatment. Called also “Saemisch’s ulcer”.
GMN 5905 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7417
1873 BERLIN, Rudolf (1833 – 1897)
Zur sogenannten Commotio retinae.
Berlin, professor of ophthalmology at Rostock, described the traumatic edema of the retina which is sometimes referred to as “Berlin’s edema”.
GMN 5907 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6779
1873 –1874 CUIGNET, Ferdinand Louis Joseph (1823 – 1890)
Kératoscopie.
Introduction of the shadow test (retinoscopy), sometimes called “Cuignet’s method”.
GMN 5908 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6782
1874 –1878 BECKER, Otto Heinrich Enoch (1828 – 1890)
Atlas der pathologischen Topographie des Auges. 3 vols.
GMN 11619 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/13819
1875 ARLT, Carl Ferdinand von (1812 – 1887)
Ueber die Verletzungen des Auges mit besonderer Rücksicht auf deren gerichtsärztliche Würdigung.
English translation by Charles S. Turnbull as Injuries of the eye and their medico-legal aspect. (Philadelpha. 1878). Digital facsimile of the 1875 edition from the Internet Archive at this link; of the 1878 edition f…
GMN 5912 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6796
1876 LAQUEUR, Ludwig (1839 – 1909)
Ueber eine neue therapeutische Verwendung des Physostigmin.
Introduction of physostigmine in the treatment of glaucoma.
GMN 5913 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6799
1876 SAEMISCH, Edwin Theodor (1833 – 1909)
Der Frühjahrskatarrh. In: GRAEFE and SAEMISCH, Handbuch der gesammten Augenheilkunde
First description of vernal conjunctivitis.
GMN 5914 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6809
1877 FÖRSTER, Carl Friedrich Richard (1825 – 1902)
Beziehungen der Allgemein-Leiden und Organ-Erkrankungen zu Veränderungen und Krankheiten des Sehorgans. In: GRAEFE and SAEMISCH, Handbuch der gesammten Augenheilkunde, 7, Theil 5, 59-234
Förster was among the first to study the relationship between eye disease and general and organic disease of the body.
GMN 5915 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/8615
1879 THOMSON, William (1833 – 1907)
On astigmatism as a cause for persistent headache and other nervous symptoms.
Thomson was a pioneer in the study of refraction. He was much interested in color-blindness and modified Holmgren’s wool-skein test. Himself affected with hypermetropia, he made important investigations on this condit…
GMN 5917 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6819
1883 KOCH, Robert Heinrich Hermann (1843 – 1910)
Bericht über die Thätigkeit der deutschen Cholerakommission in Aegypten und Ostindien.
Koch–Weeks bacillus, Hemophilus conjunctivitidis, or Hemophilus aegyptius. Koch discovered the bacilli of two varieties of Egyptian conjunctivitis. See also No. 5930.
GMN 5923 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6839
1886 PANAS, Photinos (1832 – 1903)
D’un nouveau precédé opératoire applicable au ptosis congénital et au ptosis paralytique.
An operation for congenital and paralytic ptosis was introduced by Panas.
GMN 4572 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/6856
