Volume 19 Forlorn? !\ J .... " - •• 'I .. ": .... ~ ., "" : .. lnrt!:W;l Ur!l'.'er;i~~-. ·, · ' Ubrarj : « .. , .. '11!.- ..... "' .. NEWSt.E'l'll'ER. •.. : OF THE ~PTOMETRIC HISTORICAL SOCIETY ~(243 North Lindbergh Boulevard St. Louis, Missouri, 63141, USA) January 1988 () ;J/1'· OPTOMETRY LIBRARY Mt\R 1 o 1989 IAU'II~;Ip "'Iliff ' llC:ITV Number 1 Yes, you are reading the first issue of the OHS Newsletter of 19881 It was nice to see that many of you missed your quarterly issues. For reasons which would be a bit to rambling to detail, the Newsletter material has been piling up over the past many months on the desk(s) of one of your editors, as he shuffled from here to there. During this period, the other editor (H.W H.) has remained patient, yet diligent, in reminding the mobile editor that the piles were still on his desk. So here they come. My apologies to all members. D.K.P. The refractive debut of ophthalmology: When did American ophthalmology begin to involve itself in optometry? In Europe, Danders' 1864 book is usually thought of as the historic milestone of ophthalmology's entree. According to Alvin A. Hubbell, M.D., Ph.D., in his 1908 book "The Development of Ophthalmology in America, 1810 to 1870," the specialty's developments were not as rapid in America as in Europe. Does a page by page perusal of his very thorough historical and biographical text support his assertion in terms of ophthalmology's inclusion of optometric services? In other words, when did American ophthalmology involve itself in the aspects of ophthalmic science and technology more traditionally considered the milieu of optometry or ophthalmic opticianry? The frontispiece of Hubbell's book is a portrait of Dr. George Frick (1793-1870) showing him wearing a pair of glasses, though not in a reading pose or in a stance suggesting his engagement in any visual task. The glasses seem to be part of his normal appearance. The caption labels Frick "The Father of American Ophthalmology." My estimate of Frick's age in the picture is about 35 years or younger, which would suggest the date of the portrait to have been about 1828. This was in an era when the medical profession was still highly suspicious of the justification of glasses for anything other than the occasional need to see something that could not otherwise be resolved. Frick's willingness to pose with his glasses on seems hardly compatible with the then prevailing medical evaluation of glasses. There being no indications in his 2 biographical notes that he himself prescribed glasses, he must have patronized an optometrist or ophthalmic optician. In the biographical sketches of leading eye physicians and the commentaries on the founding of eye infirmaries, the establishment of ophthalmological teaching centers, and the literature during the 70 year period under review, Dr. Hubbell's coverage of clinical aspects is almost entirely on surgical accomplishments. The medicinal and therapeutic roles are scarcely mentioned though it is nevertheless clear from the phraseology that medicinal therapy was fully practiced. This may simply mean that few advancements were made in this respect. Vision care, and therefore optometry, as a service role conceptually different from medical or surgical eye care appears in Dr. Hubbell's review to be almost completely foreign to American ophthalmological concern until the appearance of a small book by Dr. William Clay Wallace in 1836. It carried the title, "A Treatise on the Eye, Containing the Discoveries of the Cause of Near and Far Sightedness, and of the Affections of the Retina, with Remarks on the Use of Medicines as Substitutes for Spectacles." A third edition in 1841 varied the title to "Wonders of the Vision: A Treatise on the Eye.", and in 1850 Dr. Wallace authored a 36 page book entitled "The Accommodation of the Eye to Distances", published by John Wiley, New York. In 184 7 Dr. James W. Powell published a book on "The Eye: Its Imperfections and their Preventions" in which, according to Hubbell, he "deals in the most meager manner with ... rules for the prevention, improvement and restoration of sight, with remarks on near sight and aged sight, on optics, and the uses and abuses of spectacles, with directions for their selection". In 1850 Dr. Henry W. Williams translated and published a French book by J. Sichel, M.D., entitled "Spectacles: Their Uses and Abuses in Long and Short Sightedness and the Pathologic Conditions Resulting from their Irrational Employment". In 1854 Dr. Isaac mentioned the 1828 correction of the Rev. Mr. Goodrich's astigmatism by "skilled optician, Mr. John McAllister" in his American edition of Lawrence on "Diseases of the Eye". Dr. Henry o. Noyes described the historical case again in 1872 in a medical journal". The broadly neglected visual theme in the medical journals during the period under Dr. Hubbell's historical review seems to have been otherwise punctuated only by a few isolated reports. Mentioned are a 1813 report of an "inverted vision" case, and 1831 theory of accommodation by changes of pupil size, an 1840 report of a case of color vision deficiency, the 1849 coining of the term "neo-macropia" to identify children needing "convex spectacles which are suited to the eyes of persons from 65 to 70 years of age", the use of Snellen test types in 1862, the 1865 introduction 3 of "ciliary gymnastics" (reading exercises) for hypermetropic asthenopia, and in 1866 an expression of concern about the quality of test-type illumination. In his brief penultimate chapter, "The New American Ophthalmology", author Hubbell makes his only hint of the eventual ophthalmological involvement in refractive care by reference to "the increased knowledge of refraction and physiologic optics." He apparently had in mind especially "Donder's revelations •.• in 1859 to 1864" which he had mentioned in the introductory chapter. It seems evident from the review that by 1870 American ophthalmologists had not yet even begun to embrace even the optometric services already described so sophisticatedly in the Spanish book by Daza de Valdez two hundred and fifty years earlier. H.W H. Archives begin immediately: His files overcrowded, OHS member Edward Goodlaw, O.D., almost tossed out his folder of accumulated brochures, announcements, correspondence, etc. pertaining to his Regional Chairmanship of the 1977 Campaign for Minor Hall. With his archival sense pricking his conscious he forwarded the packet to us as of possible historical interest. Indeed, such items rarely are preserved. It so happens, however, that ILAMO maintains archives for every optometry school, including whatever materials show up even for extinct ones. This packet will therefore be forwarded to the ILAMO archives. The Campaign for Minor Hall, incidentally, was a fund drive to raise almost a half million dollars in private funds to supplement the almost six million dollars of state appropriated funds to construct and equip the optometry addition to Minor Hall on the University of California campus in Berkeley. The contents of the donated packet reveal much of the educational and professional philosophy, aspiration, and dedication that may well not even have been appreciated by many during the drive, and certainly by fewer now. Athanasius Kircher (1602-1680): According to an article by OHS member Colin Fryer on pages 27, 31, and 33-34 of the October 9, 1987, issue of Optician (London), no. 5118, Vol. 194, Professor Kircher was well educated in logic, languages, philosophy, astronomy, and optics and exercised his intellectual skills in such a variety of activities as to become known as "the doctor of a hundred arts." One of his numerous publications was ARS MAGNA LUCIAS ET UMBRAE, 1646, a copy of which is in the BOA Library, London. Says Fryer," ••• amongst his inaccuracies and fantasies there is some brilliance and enough learning to make it unjust to label him a charlatan. He had an 4 uncanny knack of making intuitive guesses that eventually proved correct". In the above cited book Kircher described a couple of portable cameras obscura, various kinds of single lens microscopes, an instrument with about 100X magnification, a concave mirror magic lantern utilizing sunlight, and several projectors utilizing candles and transparent watercolor slides. Apparently Fryer derived his information from the British Optical Association Library. He references only a biography by Jerome Langemantel written four years after Kircher's death. English eyecare before 1800 A.D.: In 1933 the Cambridge University Press published a 255 page book by R. Rutson James, an ophthalmic surgeon, for the British Journal of Ophthalmology entitled, "Studies in the History of Ophthalmology in England Prior to the year 1800." Though the book deals quite exclusively with the medical and surgical aspects of eyecare, such eye-related practices ought to give some hint as to the nature, acceptance, and significance of the early spectacle­ fitting services which had been initiated by the invention of spectacles in Italy at the turn of the 14th century. Dr. James finds no traces of information about the status of ophthalmic care in England prior to the Roman occupation in the first century A. D. The only clues for the next four centuries are mostly the variously discovered metal stamps and their wax impressions of Latin words identifying the medicinal offerings of ophthalmic healers or oculists. The fifth to eleventh centuries of the Anglo-Saxon era produced primarily an ophthalmology of leeches, herbs, "starcraft", and superstitious rituals catalogued for a variety of ailments including "dimness of eyes", "bleareye", "mistiness of eye", "bleared eyes", "blindness", and "nyctalopia". The three centuries following the Norman Conquest of 1066 A.D. saw the introduction of prayer and religious miracles to supplement other forms of cures. Penal blinding, i.e., blinding as a penalty for crime in lieu of hanging, was included in the statutes and reached ~its acme under Henry the First. In one literary publication tonsure is mentioned as a cure for a student's eyestrain. With the third of these three centuries Dr. James identifies what he calls the founding of British optics, the teachings of Robert Grosseteste (c. 1175-1253), Roger Bacon (c. 1214-1294), and John de Peckham (c. 1230-1294). He referred to them as "A great Franciscan triad that introduced into England the scientific and mathematical concepts of optics, refraction, reflection, and related topics. All three were members of the Franciscan Order and attained high positions in the ministry. 5 The next three centuries, A.D. 1300 to A.D. 1600, are labeled as a "blank in ophthalmological history, broken only. . . by the small tract De Cura oculorum of John of Arderne". In it are described variously concocted collyria, the good effects of human urine as an eye wash, and numerous strange potions and lotions. Applications of tutty (zinc oxide) were quite incidentally recommended to "clear the sight", "increase vision", and as a remedy for "visual defect." It seems a bit challenging to realize that these three ophthalmologically "blank" centuries were the first three centuries following the invention of spectacles. Could the craft secrecy of the spectaclemakers guild have been a factor? The seventeenth century saw ophthalmology becoming "more practical and less indebted to astrology, spells and charms than previously." The most famous ophthalmic condition of the century was the blindness of John Milton (1608-1674). Samuel Pepys (1633- 1703) was another celebrated case of ophthalmic trouble, possibly refractive in origin. Of the next century Dr. James reports, "Although the eighteenth century was the heyday of ophthalmic quackery, it saw the foundations laid of modern ophthalmology." Included among those mentioned more favorably were William Charles Wells (1757- 1817) for his essay on binocular vision and, very casually, William Porterfield (1696-1771) whose books dealt with the manner and phenomenon of vision. Dealt with less favorably and in great detail were several renowned quacks, the most glamorous being The Chevalier John Taylor (1703-1772). A quack, according to a definition attributed to Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), is "a boastful pretender to arts which he does not understand" and, medically "as one who proclaims his own medical abilities in public places." Other similarly but less profusely described quacks of the eighteenth century included Sir William Read ( -1715), Roger Grant, William Crosse, and Taylor's son and grandson. The lengthy 115 page discourse on the three successive Taylors is a reprint from the May 1915 issue of the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital Reports, Vol. 20. What is of specific optometric significance is the mere mention that "The Chevalier" had an accurate knowledge of optics and refraction of the eye and its optical correction as represented in one of his numerous publications, an account of the mechanism of the eye dated 1721, a copy of which is in the British Museum. There seems to be no evidence however, that he was in any manner involved with the fitting of glasses or even approved of them as clinical aids. In summary, although spectacles had completed five centuries of existence, had pervaded every corner of the civilized world, and 6 were broadly appreciated at all levels of society by the year 1800, they were remarkably excluded from the almost wildly encompassing armamentarium of medical and ophthalmological personnel, both the legitimate and the quacks. It prompts one to wonder if this exclusion might be attributable to the successfully monopolistic trade secrecy of the spectaclemakers. The question seems well worth exploring. The above comments are based on a reading of a borrowed copy of Dr. James's book from the collection of OHS member James Leeds. The evil eye still lurks: In a chapter entitled "Life in the Villages", Jehan Sadat, Ph.D., widow of the assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, describes how her late husband's relatives, neighbors, and friends lived in Mit Abul-Kum, the village in which Anwar was raised. It is identified merely as a community in the Nile Delta, a two hour drive from Cairo. Her observations were mostly in the 1950's and early 1960's. Her book, an autobiography, is entitled "A Woman of Egypt", published by Simon and Schuster, New York, 1987. "Deeply superstitious, many in the village painted their doors blue to ward off the j inns, the evil spirits described in the Quran. For more insurance against the evil eye and the curses of the envious, villagers also dipped their hands into blue paint and placed their palmprints on the outside walls to evoke the protective symbol of Fatima, the Prophet's daughter" (p. 183). On page 191, referring to the widespread ophthalmia of many centuries, she comments, "Before the clinic came to Mit Abul-Kum, the villagers protected their babies' eyes by lining the lids with kohl, the black powder that Egyptian women had been using for eye makeup since the days of Cleopatra." on pages 195-196, in describing a wedding ceremony in the village, she reports, " ... as the bride's party passed ..• the women and I threw pinches of salt into the air to ward off the evil eye." On the next page she adds, "Because boys were more valued than girls and therefore more susceptible to the evil eye, some parents even dre~sed their sons in girl's clothing for the first year." A sample of Cross's lectures: A recent acquisition of ILAMO, a gift from Dr. James Leeds, is a loose-leaf notebook of 33 typewritten pages entitled DISEASES OF THE EYE THE OPTOMETRIST SHOULD RECOGNIZE, by A. Jay Cross. That it is probably a student's classroom notebook rather than Dr. Cross's lecture notes is indicated by the frequent misspellings of ophthalmic terms and the lack of handling wear of the pages as 7 compared to the more extensive wear of the binder. It may be presumed that this student typed his notes in this very neat form after class, as a few of the more diligent students are wont to do. The binder itself is one flexibly designed for student use with ingeniously flattened rings to permit it to be flat on a desk when open. Because the optometry course at Columbia University started in 1910 and Cross, who was born in 1855, died in 1925, these notes may be estimated to date early in the second decade of this century. The first entry is labeled as Cohn's Table of "frequent diseases of the eye, verified in 1895". It lists frequencies in per cents totaling 88% for 12 ocular parts ranging from 30% for the conjunctiva to 1/4% for the orbit plus 12% for "Refraction." Ocular inspection techniques are described and certain simple remedies are suggested for optomet'ric use together with advice on medical referral. Under "Diseases of the Conjunctiva" is the statement that, "The use of so-called eye stones should be discouraged ... " Under "Trachoma" is the statement that, "Trachoma is so contagious that immigrants who arrive with it are immediately deported, ... " Concerning "Hard and Senile Cataract" the optometry student is advised to "be careful not to explain fully to patient owing to great alarm often created in the minds of many which may lead to mental depression." Further, "In the opinion of one writer the continued vision of an old person is not to be compared in importance with the improvement of vision of a young person whose life work and usefulness is ahead and not behind ... " With reference to skiametry the comment is made that "All medical writers have adhered to what we call the static method wherein they urge the use of a reliable cycloplegic, which practically admits that not all cycloplegics are reliable." Added is the statement that, "It was in 1903 that Prof. Cross ... first gave to the world the principles of the dynamic method which is to the optometrist what cycloplegics are supposed to be to the ophthalmologist as regards the determination of latent errors and mastery of tonic and clonic spasms." The typographical fullness of the last page and the lack of any indication that the course was ended suggest that these notes do not cover the complete series of Cross's lectures. The fact that the last ten pages deal entirely with skiametric procedure, theory, and interpretation could lead one to believe that eventually the series might have included other refractive and analytical aspects. Nevertheless, the notes do give one quite unintentionally a direct view of the level of sophistication of optometric schooling in a university setting in the early part of this century. 8 The developing optical dichotomy: An interesting reflection on optical history is manifested in a parenthetical remark by Paul Roman in a rather detailed report on an international optics exhibition in Madrid on pages 65-66 of the December 1987 issue of European Science Notes Information Bulletin, no. 87-02. Presumably Paul Roman is an optical physicist. The reported event was the "6th Expo/Optica meeting in the field of optical and acoustical technology, optometry, and electro-optics ..• held in Madrid, Spain, at the modern premises of the Madrid Trade Fair Organization from 24 through 27 April 1987." The parenthetical remark mentioned underlined in the following sentence: exhibits were in the optometry and (disappointing for me, of course) ... " above is included and "The majority of the medical optics areas What his parenthetical remark appears to manifest is the fact that, whereas only about a century ago virtually all of optics was in effect a single comprehensive discipline, there is now a major dichotomy between those in the optometrically related areas and those in other technological phases of optics. The two groups are largely served by separate organizations, separate journals, and separate curricula. Those in one group have difficulty even understanding the literature of the other group. They seem superficially related only by the root word optic, and, in the instance of the above reported exhibition, by the umbrella of commercial interests. The 1987 reminisce-in: A business meeting of the Executive Board of the Optometric Historical Society was held on December 5, 1987, in Denver, Colorado, with a majority in attendance. A report from Treasurer Douglas Penisten showed a total cash balance of $4910.55 with no outstanding debts. Because there has been no membership increase in recent years, considerable discussion was made of possible recruitment tactics. Vice-President Pat Carlson was appointed by President Jerome Abrams to chair membership development activities. Secretary Maria Dablemont reported numerous activities of ILAMO of special i~terest to OHS members because they illustrate how the two organizations complement each other. She also reported that she would not be available for re-election next year as secretary, but that the st. Louis address of OHS could be retained by agreement of her staff to forward OHS-addressed mail regulary to the person elected as her successor. Following the business meeting thirty or more persons joined the Board for a reminisce-in featuring Ron Fair's delightful presentation of the History of Optometry in the State of Colorado. Accompanied by a musical prelude and postlude from a tape-recorded 9 rendition of the Unsinkable Mollie Brown as sung by Debbie Reynolds, Dr. Fair explained that Colorado optometry was really "the Bloom of Optometric History". The Bloom of course, was J.C. Bloom, 0. D., born in 1867, who piloted Colorado's optometry profession throughout a very long lifetime. Documentation of Dr. Fair's account included slides and a display of photographs, news clippings, a medal, early correspondence, minutes of early meetings, scrapbooks, and court records found mainly in the cumulative files of the Colorado Optometric Association with the help of its retired Administrative Director Wm. O'Rourke, who was also present. A few of the names of significantly involved persons in the history included A.M. Skeffington, otto Bebber, and Edith Gallup. Dr. Gallup was extremely active as early as 1912 in the encouragement of women· to enter the field. Her efforts even included advice on how female optometrists should dress to appear professional. Dr. Fair's presentation met with resounding applause and long aftertalk by many in attendance who enjoyed the assorted supporting anecdotes. The various archival documents and the optometricana will be donated to ILAMO. Vision aids atlas planned: An undated letter postmarked December 1, 1987 from Audrey B. Davis, Ph.D., Curator, Medical Sciences Division of the National Museum of American History informs us that OHS member Eric P. Muth, Ph.D., is a Consultant to the Division. In his role he is consultant-advisor of a new project, the preparation of an illustrated catalog of vision aids in the Museum's collection of approximately 2,500 pairs of spectacles and several hundred diagnostic and therapeutic instruments. Dr. Muth is seeking funding, labor, technical input, and contributors for the catalog. The progressive phases of the plan include color photography, sorting, identifying, compiling, computerizing, manuscript preparation and publication. Included in the Museum's acquisitions is a large portion of the famed collection of optometrist Bull. Dr. Muth's address is 25 Parkland Place, Milford, Connecticut 06460. His telephone numbers are (203) 878-8260 and {203) 874- 4595. Help wanted: 10 Il callotto resuscitate. caricature anna 1715 I recall having seen this cartoon long before I started my collection, but I do not recall where. Recently it showed up again on the calling card of OHS member J.C. Teunissen of the Netherlands. Part of its mystery is the interpretation of the words IL CALLOTTO RESUSCITATO. Could it suggest that glasses might serve to heal the calloused buttocks of some legendary figure? I have sought the help of two Italian otticas, a professor of Italian, and Mr. Teunissen, with no gratifying succuss. Opinions are welcome, indeed. H.W H. Patent ivory and lignum vitae: What appears to be from the pages of a double column American magazine of about 1874 are two advertisements of "Dr. J. Ball & Co.'s Patent Ivory and Lignum Vitae EYE CUPS", in a poorly and incompletely reproduced photocopy received form Louis Ginsberg, Box 1502, Petersburg, VA 23803. Mr. Ginsberg describes the original as being 8 1/2 x 22 inches, fragile, and offered at the price of $15.00 plus $1.50 postage. A request for further detalis brought no response. Presumably he was successful in selling it earlier. The advertisements are headlined "Certification of cures" performed by the application of the eye cups. The certificates are cited testimonials from a minister, a physician, and three other patients in Kentucky, canada, Illinois, Georgia, and Massachusetts. The successes included cures of blindness from inflamed sore eyes, squinting, the need for glasses, night blindness, and blindness from sunstroke. 11 Another memorial In a surprise move the Executive Board of the OHS established the Henry w. Hofstetter Recognition Award to be given to persons who have made outstanding contributions toward the acquisition of better knowledge of optometry's heritage. The first recipient was Maria J. Dablemont, with the presentation made at the OHS reminisce-in in Denver, Colorado, on December 5, 1987. Notes on Estrada: November 28 is the birthday anniversary of Gregorio G. Estrada, o. D., a long time dean of the School of Optometry of Centro Escolar University, Manila, The Philippines. Claro M. Cinco, O.D., gave the Estrada Memorial Lecture on that date in 1987 in which he gave glowing credit to Dr. Estrada for the leadership and indoctrination in professional development that he provided in his country. According to Cinco, Estrada was originally trained as a pharmacist in the United States with no expectations of becoming an optometrist until after his return to the Philippines. Cinematic eye effects: A very unusual aspect of optometric history is that described by Morton K. Greenspoon, O.D., in memory of his late father, Reuben Greenspoon, O.D., in the December 1987 issue of the Journal of the American Optometric Association, Vol. 58, No. 12, pp 993-999. The article is entitled "Optometry's contribution to the motion picture industry." While due credit is given to the earlier role of optometrist Siegmund "Pop" Lubin in the development of the film industry itself, the author's father is subsequently credited with contributing his efforts and skill in producing special eye effects for actors and actresses by means of ingeniously adapted contact lenses. The elder Greenspoon' s connection with the movie industry began in 1939 when he was invited to demonstrate the procedures of making eye molds and lenses for special eye effects in a short "Popular Science" series film by Paramount entitled "The Eyes Have It", a copy of which is now in ILAMO. As a result of a bit of publicity Dr. Greenspoon was called upon almost every year during the next three decades to create one or another type of eye effect such as a color change, an arcus senilis, blindness, esotropia, a pair of mirrored eyes, invisible eyes, a bleeding eye, and even animal-type eyes. His son, Morton, joined in the optometry practice in 1951 and shared the involvement. In the latter half of the 'SO's the demand grew from an average of one request per year to about a dozen per year into the 'SO's. 127 motion pictures are chronologically listed in which special eye effects were accomplished by the father son Greenspoons. 12 The American Academy of Optometry: In whose minds did the concept of an optometric academy originate? How was the American Optometric Association involved? Where are the archival materials? What were the motives or intentions of the founders? Who owned its journal? To what extent has the Academy supported or underwritten research? Has it represented the views of practitioners or educators? What have been its political involvements? Is it merely a "mutual admiration society"? Has the Academy influenced modes of practice and professional ethics? What is it's role in specialization? Has it been a force in continuing education? Why did the Federal Trade Commission investigate the Academy? Is there a Chapter in your area? What is an Academy Section? Was Prentice a member? What kinds of awards does it give? If you have an undocumented opinion on any of these and other questions, or simply would like to learn the historical facts, be sure to read James R. Gregg's "History of the American Academy of ·optometry, 1922-1986", published by the American Academy of Optometry, 5530 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Suite 1149, Washington, D.C. 20815. The source of a myth? Rummaging through some of the office effects of the late Roy E. Denny, O.D., of Indianapolis I found a letter of August 27, 1929, to Dr. Denny form Dr. Carel c. Koch, Chairman, American Academy of Optometry. Koch was a charter member of the Academy and its first secretary. The letter is an invitation to fellowship, well composed, flawlessly typed, and quite detailed. I was struck by the opening sentence in which Koch identified the Academy as "an organization formed in 1922 by educators for purely technical purposes." This is quite in contradiction to the detalis described and well documented th Gregg's history of the Academy. But why would Koch have said that? The statement could hardly have represented an enticement to Dr. Denny or to most other practicing optometrists. ConceivabLy Dr. Koch was impressed by a resolution adopted at the first Conference to Establish Optometric Standards which took place in 1922 in St. Louis. It was a very impressive gathering of a number of educators and practitioners under sponsorship of the American Optometric Association Department of Education. The 68 page report was edited by William S. Todd, O.D., and published as monograph by tha A.O.A. The pertinent resolution essentially called for the establishment of an academy. Perhaps Dr. Koch felt that this was the essential trigger to get the academy underway and so prompted him to declare seven years later that it was initiated "in 1922 by educators for purely technical purposes." H.W H. 13 Not much omitted: Isaac Barrow, 1630-1677, English mathematician, theologian, and respected geometer in his day, in 1667 delivered a series of 18 lectures on optics in Latin at the University of Cambridge. They were published in 1669, the year Barrow resigned the professorial chair in favor of his pupil Isaac Newton. These have now been translated by H.C. Fay, Ph.D., and published by the Worshipful Company of Spectacle Makers, Apothecaries' Hall, Black Friars Lane, London, England, 1987, under the editorship of A.G. Bennett and D.F. Edgar (243 pages, $25.00). The book is extensively reviewed by B. Ralph Chou and Melanie c.w. Campbell in the December 1987 issue of the American Journal of Optometry and Physiological Optics, Vol. 64, No. 12, p. 952. Barrow is quoted as telling his readers that his lectures are " ... lectures to undergraduates ... exacted by the necessity of my duty ... hastily delivered ... (to) a very ordinary bunch of students for whom it was better not to omit much ... " The reviewer adds that the text is very readable and an important contribution to the history of modern optics. The Ideal Sight Restorer: "Professor" Charles A. Tyrrell, M.D., (1843-1918), was extensively involved in the production and sale of the Ideal Sight Restorer, a device intended to massage the eyes to cure various eye diseases and eliminate the need for spectacles and eye surgery. The invention has been briefly mentioned in the NOHS, Vol. 14, No. 4, Oct. 1983, pp. 95 and Vol. 5, No. 1, Jan. 1984, pp. 24-26. A very comprehensive and well documented review of the instrument, Dr. Tyrrell's commercial shenanigans, his personal life, his books, his business identity as The Ideal Company, his other health products including an amusingly novel rectal syringe known as the J.B.L. (Joy-Beauty-Life) Cascade, and a J.B.L. Antiseptic Tonic, appeared in the September 1986 issue of Ophthalmology, Vo. 93, No. 9, pp. 1246-1257. The author is Andrew P. Ferry, M.D. The numerous cited references include several reports in JAMA, two in The New York Times, advertisements in popular magazines, several of Tyrrell's publications and various directories. · Cyclopean history? On the 15th page of a sample undated, unnumbered, and unpaginated issue of ZOOBOOKS received on February 3, 1988, in which elephants are the exclusive feature is an artistically illustrated but obviously not documented theory that "the story of the cyclops was probably started by an elephant skull." The story is that there were one-eyed giants that liked to eat people. 14 The theory is that long ago some imaginative person who had never seen or heard about a live elephant probably came across an elephant skull. The elephant skull is of course very large with a bony nasal passageway seemingly centered just below the forehead, at "eye level" so to speak, whereas the true eye sockets are very laterally located and not even totally surrounded by bony rims. Perhaps in the absence of the rest of the skeleton, or because the total skeleton was perceived as that of a gigantic anthropoid, the observer envisioned the bones as belonging to a one-eyed giant. Because mythology provides embellishment that the cyclops was a people eater, this issue includes an artist's colorful depiction of a cyclops wielding an 18th century dagger hungrily in pursuit of several much smaller seamen in pantaloons attempting to escape into the sea to get back to their 16th centry sailboat. The artist supplemented this with a frontal view of an elephant skull and also a portrayal of a one-eyed anthropoidal countenance with a pair of protruding bicuspids. ZOOBOOKS are published by Wildlife Education, Ltd. 930 West Washington St., San Diego, California 92103, as an educational medium for children. The other OHS: The ocular Heritage Society is an association of history­ minded persons in the same sense as the Optometric Historical Society, but with a substantially different activities format. Their activities center around an annual membership meeting where papers are presented and official society business is conducted. In contrast, our official business is conducted by a board of directors elected by mail ballot. Our gatherings are informal affairs appended to the national meetings of the American Optometric Association or the American Academy of Optometry, wherever and whenever it seems possible to assemble a group who may be interesed in optometric history. The Ocular Heritage Society originated in ophthalmological quarters whereas the Optometric Historical Society is optometry oriented, but neither society is exclusive and several persons are members of both. ~ The principal medium of our Society is this newsletter in which membership expressions, commentary, and observations are freely quoted and in which editorial mention and reviews of miscellaneous archival accomplishments and historical documents published elsewhere are featured. In this sense our newletter, the N.O.H.S., is becoming a kind of growing almanac or compendium of otherwise widely scattered tidbits of history, which, with its periodical index, serves as an information retrieval aid. The newsletter of the Ocular Heritage Society on the other 15 hand is essentially an update of the Society's business and membership activities with a listing of its members' contributed papers and information on their availability. Both societies encourage the publication of historical articles in journals of wider circulation. The Secretary /Treasurer of the Ocular Heritage Sociey is Susan E. Cronenwett, Director, The Museum of Ophthalmology, Foundation of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, 655 Beach Street, P.O. Box 6988, San Francisco, California 94101-6988, USA. Actually Susan is a member of two "OHS's". We welcome her as a new member of the Optometric Historical Society. Centenary comments on contacts: A favorite and frequent commentary in the ophthalmic literature during 1987 has been in recognition of a century of contact lenses. Possibly the most recent was that of the East German optometrist v. Maxam in an inside cover page editorial entitled "100 Jahre Kontaktlinsen" in the November/December 1987 issue of Augenoptik, Vol. 104, No. 6, opposite page 169. He properly recognizes the earlier preliminary contributions of Leonardo de Vinci ( 1452-1519) , Rene Descartes ( 1596-1630), Thomas Young (1773-1829), and John Frederik William Herschel (1792- 1871), whose objectives were optical and visual but hardly of clinical utility. The pioneering centenary honor however, is given to glassblower F .A. Muller of Wiesbaden, who in 1887 made a centrally transparent glass shell to be worn directly on the eye to prevent tissue dessication following eyelid surgery. The balance of the article deals with subsequent developments, including especially the contributions of a good number of Germans. More on Southall: What had seemed to be a lack of published information about the personality of Professor James P.C. Southall is now offset by the finding of a 12 page dedication "by his pupils, fellow workers and optometric colleagues in America" in the February 1942 issue of the American Journal of Optometry, Vol. 19, No. 2, 49-60. Included is his portrait on page 50. The accolade is by Charles Sheard in which Sheard reminisces freely about the status of the profession in the early part of the century and includes his own involvement with Southall and such other personalities as John c. Eberhardt, Andrew Jay Cross, and Charles F. Prentice. Altogether it is a glowing testimonial to Southall as a scholar, teacher, and scientist, and as a stalwart friend of optometry. Ives the inventor: In case you have seen, used, heard about, or own an Ives 16 Acuity Meter, surely a collector's item now, you must have wondered who Ives was. A delightful review of the accomplishments, inventions, and philosophy of Frederic Eugene Ives (1856-1937) is published in the January 1988 issue of Optics News, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 42-45. The article is entitled, "Contemplating an invention? Frederic Ives would say 'Go for it!'", and authored by Elaine carol Main. History of headaches: In his perennial search for new visual science terms for the fourth edition of the Dictionary of Visual Science OHS member David Cline came across a seven page chapter entitled "The history of headache" in the Fourth Edition of James w. Lance's "Mechanism and Management of Headache", Butterworth, 1982. In a brief preface to this edition Professor Vance reminds us of the rapid advance in knowledge of pain mechanisms and explains that "So that Art will not be overwhelmed by Science, a chapter on the history of headache has been added to place our present conceptual struggle in perspective." Believing it unlikely that animals suffer from severe headaches, he speculated that susceptibility may have developed with mankind's assumption of an upright posture. Trepanned skulls among Stone Age patients prompt a suspician that headaches may have been their complaints. Written reference to headaches date back several millennia B.C. in the Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian literatures. The chapter brings us forward to 1963, anything subsequent "forming the substance of this book." Nineteen historical references are cited. Another optometrist memorialized: City University, London, has named its contact lens clinic the Gerald M. Dunn Clinic. In further commemoration of the late Professor Dunn the British Chapter of the American Academy of Optometry donated an oil portrait of him to grace the clinic entranceway. Another optometrist memorialized: The Charles B. Margach Memorial Fund was announced by the Optometric Extension Program, in recognition of the late Dr. Margach's many contributions to the profession. Henry W. Hofstetter Douglas K. Penisten, Editors 1988-19-01-001 1988-19-01-002 1988-19-01-003 1988-19-01-004 1988-19-01-005 1988-19-01-006 1988-19-01-007 1988-19-01-008 1988-19-01-009 1988-19-01-010 1988-19-01-011 1988-19-01-012 1988-19-01-013 1988-19-01-014 1988-19-01-015 1988-19-01-016