***********~****!*** · Indiana Un1vers1ty * * JUN 10 1998 ! JIINDSIGHT .. iOIANAUNtvtR:>irv ,_., : Library * ******************** , Newsletter of the J UN 1 5 1998 Optometric Historical Society ""'Tf'll\!f.[.PV, ,,~~~,....,· 243 North Lindbergh Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63141, USA ... , ' ' Volume 29 January 1998 Number 1 1998 OHS Board members and officers: Listed below are the 1998 OHS Executive Board members and officers, and the year of each member's term of expiration. President . . . . . . . . . . . Walter Chase (1998) Vice President . . . . . . . Alfred Rosenbloom (2001) Secretary-Treasurer . . . . Bridget Kowalczyk (2000) Trustees . . . . . . . . . . . Patricia Carlson ( 1 999) Call for nominations: Theodore Grosvenor (2001) Chuck Haine (2000) Morris McKee (1998) It is time for you to send in your nominations for the two positions on the OHS Executive Board which will expire at the end of this year. The members whose terms will expire are Walter Chase and Morris McKee. The OHS members who receive at least three nominations and agree to serve on the Board will have their names placed on an election ballot to be mailed later this year with a copy of Hindsight. Please send nominations to the OHS Secretary-Treasurer by June 20, 1998: Bridget Kowalczyk, ILAMO, 243 N. Lindbergh Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63141 USA. Notes from a collectors' newsletter: In the October 1997 issue of Ophthalmic Antiques, pp. 6-7, Udo Timm reviews the optical career of Moritz von Rohr, 1868-1940, who was partly responsible for starting the optical antiques collection at the Zeiss Museum in Jena, Germany, in the first quarter of the 20th century. He was born in the village of Longin near Posen, Germany. He majored in mathematics, physics, and geography at the Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. After working briefly at the meteorological institute in Berlin he was invited by Abbe to come to the Zeiss works in Jena. A contact with Allvar Gullstrand in 1902 brought von Rohr's attention to the fact that the spectacle lens had to differ from the camera lens. This led to his design of the Punktal lenses. Following his 1911 publication of "Die Brille als Optisches Instrument" he called for 29/2 the establishment of the school of optics in Jena. He was appointed professor there in 1913:i1Many of his more than 500 publications were on the history of spectacles and other ophthalmic items. His optical historical collection was one of the largest in Germany.· · On pages 8 and 9 Colin Fryer gives a human interest account of the experimental undertakings of Voltaire and his mistress in optical phenomena. On pages 10 and 11 in an article entitled "Turlington, the Great Spectacle­ Maker," Hugh Orr describes the affiliation of London opticians with the Worshipful Company of Brewers prior to forming their own guild in 1629. Mr. Turlington was the Master. After the Great Fire in September 1666 Samuel Pepys wrote of his contact with Turlington in his diary. In a second article in the same issue, pages 12 and 13, Colin Fryer provides a historical summary entitled "Contact Lenses- The Early Years." H.W H. Almost simultaneous: Many of us have presumed that the first magazine developed to deal with optometric practice and business management was Optometric Management, and that Irving Bennett, O.D., was the originator. Not quite so on either count says Bennett himself. He reports that on October 1 964 an issue of the magazine Optometric Practice Management (Vol. 1, No. 1) was developed as a monthly publication by John Dickey, O.D., in Knightstown, Indiana, as editor and publisher. Only a single issue appeared. It had a declared circulation of 26,000 to optometrists and optical suppliers. Quite separately at about the same time the editor and publisher of Dental Management had decided to do a similar journal for optometry after reading an editorial by Bennett in the Journal of the American Optometric Association expressing the need for such a publication. Bennett and several other optometrists were asked to serve as consulting editors of the magazine called Optometric Management, the first issue of which appeared under the date of January 1965, shortly after the single Optometric Practice Management issue. H.W H. Jewel lenses: In the July 1997 issue of Ophthalmic Antiques, No. 60, p. 11, Arthur Frank describes sorting through some "optical junk" in an old practice he had taken over in Edinburgh, Scotland, and discovering a number of tiny colored lenses mounted in brass coin-size disks. He remembered that Sir David Brewster had pointed out that some jewels, like garnets, sapphires, and diamonds could produce better images than glass when uses as lenses. For a few years around 1825 jewel lenses did in fact provide the ultimate in microscopy. H.W H. 29/3 "Classics in Ophthalmology" available: OHS member Charles Letocha writes: "Gryphon Editions publishes a series called Classics in Ophthalmology! These are facsimile editions of some famous books in ophthalmic history. I have quite a few and they really are nicely produced. My hunch would be that not many OHS members are aware of this opportunity .... " He enclosed information from Gryphon Editions noting that the books are printed on acid-free paper and are leather bound. The price per volume is US $79.00 plus $5.45 shipping and handling. In the UK, the price is £54. The address and customer service telephone number are: Gryphon Editions, P.O. Box 6003, Delran, NJ 08075, USA, (800) 633-8911. The available titles include the following: George Adams Julius Boldt Arthur Edmonston Jonas S. Friedenwald Ernst Fuchs George James Guthrie Lucien Howe Ali ibn lsa Squier Littel, Jr. Hugh Neill Edward Moore Noble H. Pagenstecher and C. Genth An Essay on Vision, 1789 Trachoma, 1 904 A Treatise of the Varieties and Consequences of Ophthalmis, 1 806 The Pathology of the Eye, 1929 Text-Book of Ophthalmology, 1 892 Lectures on Operative Surgery of the Eye, 1 823 The Muscles of the Eye, 2 vols., 1907-1908 Memorandum Book of a Tenth Century Oculist, 1 936 A Manual of the Diseases of the Eye, 1 837 On the Cure of Cataract, 1 848 A Treatise on Opthalmy, 1 800 Atlas of the Pathological Anatomy of the Eyeball, 1875 More notes from the O.A.I.C.C.: As usual, several items of historical optometric interest appear in the current issue, No. 62, January 1998, of Ophthalmic Antiques, especially concerning spectacle collections. Abstracted from an 1894 London publication entitled "Your Eyes" by John Browning are comments on "The Use and Value of Coloured Glasses" by J. William Rosenthal. On pages 6-9 Alan Leach describes the availability of patent information around the world. He points out that the first patent for spectacles, No. 1 ,359, was registered in London in 1783 by Addison Smith of Richmond. On page 12 Editor MacGregor reports on a gravestone at Kirkliston near Edinburgh, Scotland, the top corners of which form two human heads wearing spectacles with ring-end temples. The date on the stone is 1727. On pages 14-1 6 Colin Fryer describes in detail a variety of "mechanical peepshows" popular a century ago. H.W H. 29/4 Sheard's books for sale: A note from OHS member Charles Letocha to ILAMO has recently been forwarded to us. He notes a conversation with a California book dealer named Harold Diamond. Diamond has dozens of books from the library of Charles Sheard, all with Sheard's name in them and many inscribed by the authors. Most are optometry books from the first three decades of the 20th century. Diamond's address and telephone number are: Box 1193, Burbank, CA 91507, USA, (818) 846-0342. D.A.G. From the other O.H.S.: The November 1 997 newsletter of the Ocular Heritage Society includes several previously unpublished historical items of optometric interest. One is an article by John W. Tull on the history of canes with optical devices. Another is a discussion by Joseph Rumage of impressionism in art in relation to the ophthalmic science embraced by Helmholtz. A third one is J. William Rosenthal's report of his discovery of a 1645 pamphlet "written by Jacques Bourgeous, Master Glassmaker, Lensmaker to the King (Paris), 1645" which "describes what we know as meniscus lenses." H.W H. Current emanations: Prompted by the paragraph in the October 1997 issue of Hindsight, vol. 28, no. 4, p. 30, entitled "Extramission theory persists" OHS president Walt Chase tells us of his own collection of "about 20 slides from modern art and advertisements showing rays which can be interpreted as being emitted from the eye." He now suspects that they are intended to be so interpreted. H.W H. * * * Managing Editor and Contributing Editor: David A. Goss (School of Optometry, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, U.S.A.) Contributing Editors: Henry W Hofstetter (1050 Sassafras Circle, Bloomington, IN 47408, U.S.A.) and Douglas K. Penisten (College of Optometry, Northeastern State University, Tahlequah, OK 74464, U.S.A.) 1998-29-01-001 1998-29-01-002 1998-29-01-003 1998-29-01-004