Opthalmodouleia.

Dresden, M. Stockel, 1583.

First edition of the first opthalmic textbook in the German language, which raised opthalmology above the so-called "couchers and eye destroyers" of the time. Bartisch, known as the "Father of Modern Opthalmology," a simple genius, was a peripatetic practitioner who became the court oculist in Dresden. The illustrations in this work form a complete picture book of Renaissance eye surgery. The general anatomical woodcuts are made after Vesalius, while the woodcuts representing the anatomy of the eye, the instruments, and the operations, are made by Bartisch. He is said to have been the first to describe excision of the eye in living man, and it is of interest that he devoted chapters to the care of the mouth, teeth, skin, and so forth, as related to eyes. He was, in fact, a great opthalmic operator. He was, however, grossly biased against the use of spectacles," he could not conceive how an eye that does not already see well could see better with something in front of it." Chapters are devoted to white and black magic as well as to sorcery.

Rare Text Images Home   Rare Text Portraits Home

© 2000 University of Kansas Medical Center Comments: clendening@kumc.edu Revised: May 11, 2000