Abstract
FIGURE 1. Bozzini’s very special candle holder. should enable us to appreciate our beginnings and evolution to present-day practice. Endoscopy began in 1804 when Bozzini invented an instrument which he called the lichtleiter for inspecting the urethra.’ It consisted of a candle holder in a box and a hollow tube for viewing (Fig. 1). The Medical Faculty of Vienna condemned it on the grounds of insufficient illumination, and there are no reports of the instrument being used on a human. Fortunately for us this instrument, with only 1 candlepower, illuminated the way for further interest and advancement. In 1853, Desormeaux presented his endoscope to the French Academy of Medicine in Paris. The instrument, composed of a viewing tube with a light source at right angles to it, was the first workable cystoscope (Fig. 2). A candle was first used as illumination, but this soon gave way to alcohol, petroleum, and finally camphor with petroleum to increase the light from the flame. Due to the proximity of the light source to the patient, there were several incidents of burns both to
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