A Short History of Ophthalmology

a number of which have been recently written, and shows that the ophthalmic art has an interesting history which goes back to ancient times, and the author has very successfully endeavoured to trace the various components of ophthalmology up to the present age. The history is divided into different periods, the ancient East, the Greek period, the Arabian period, the Western Middle Ages, and the modern period. Special chapters are devoted to the evolution of the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the eye. There are also special chapters on the pathology and treatment of cataract and glaucoma, ocular therapeutics, spectacles, the ophthalmoscope, and finally ophthalmology in the British Isles. It is of interest to know that ophthalmology benefited at the hands of Hippocrates who was born in 4G0 B.C., and there was a continual development up to the time of Galen who was born in a.d. 130. During the long period that followed, up to the 16th century, it hardly advanced at all. The study of the anatomy of the eye and understanding of the mechanism of vision were the work of the 16th and 17th centuries. Great strides in the pathology and clinical examination of the eye