International Council of Ophthalmology

Abstract

A S THE WORLD CONTINUES TO SHRINK IN SIZE and grow in common concern, cooperation, and commitment, it seems appropriate to comment on ophthalmology's international organiza­ tion, which is unknown to many ophthalmologists. The International Congress of Ophthalmology, held every four years, is the oldest, continuous internation­ al meeting in medicine. The International Council of Ophthalmology has site selection and oversight re­ sponsibility for the International Congress and is the executive body of the International Federation of Ophthalmological Societies, which comprises one or more ophthalmologic organizations from each coun­ try. The inaugural meeting of the International Con­ gress, held in Brussels in 1857, was a landmark event. Hermann von Helmholtz had described the ophthal­ moscope in that decade. Trachoma and bacterial ocular disorders were rampant from the military forays of Napoleon and others to Egypt. In attendance were 150 delegates from 24 countries, all European with the exception of one delegate each from Caricas and Rio de Janeiro. During that Congress, Albrecht von Graefe, in an impromptu speech, described iridectomy for the treatment of angle-closure glaucoma. In the Second International Congress in Paris in 1861, rules and expectations for subsequent congresses were established. The congresses until World War I were increasingly spectacular events of international ex­ change of science and marvelous opportunities for personal interaction and interchange. There was a lapse in such meetings after World War I because of difficulties and attendant animosities in Europe.