The History of Ophthalmology. Volume 3: The Renaissance of Ophthalmology in the 18th Century, Part 1

Abstract

In a continuation of a major publishing event for ophthalmologists, visual scientists, and medical historians, an additional volume of Frederick Blodi's English translation of Hirschberg's<i>Geschichte der Augenheilkunde</i>has appeared. The English translation of the monumental history is planned to fill 11 volumes. The most recent edition (volume 3) follows two years after the appearance of volume 1, which dealt with the "antiquity" of ophthalmology—its ancient dawnings in Egypt and the Middle East, the Orient, Greece, and Rome. This work concluded with Paul of Aegina (c 650 AD). We now advance 1,000 years to the "renaissance" of ophthalmology in the 18th century. It should be noted that this new contribution is the third volume and that the intervening ten centuries, dealing mainly with Arabian ophthalmology, are discussed in the second volume, which is promised shortly. I find the period of ophthalmology covered in volume 3 the most colorful and intriguing