Rare Books — #301 – 350
301 Porta, Giovanni Battista della, 1535?-1615.
Magiae naturalis libri viginti, in quibus scientiarum naturalium divitiae, & deliciae demonstrantur. Jam de novo, ab omnibus mendis repurgati in lucem prodierunt. Hanover: D. & D. Aubry & C. Schleich for Wechel, 1619.
, 622 p.; 18 cm. (8vo)
Porta’s immensely popular work on natural magic, first published in 1558 in four books but later enlarged to the present twenty books, was reissued in numerous editions and translations. Of particular interest to this collection are Porta’s experiments in optics (Book 17). He was one of the principal inventors of the opera glass and was the first to suggest the combination of lenses to form a telescope or microscope. Partington [History of chemistry (London, 1961) 2:15-25] provides a detailed account of the author and this, his most celebrated work.
Hirschberg §307; Wellcome I:5188.
302 Porterfield, William, 1695-1771.
A treatise on the eye, the manner and phaenomena of vision. Edinburgh: A. Miller (London) & G. Hamilton and J. Balfour, 1759.
2 v. (, xxxi, , 450,  p., 5 plates; xxxv, , 435 p., 3 plates); 20 cm. (8vo)
“Porterfield was professor of the institutes and practice of medicine at Edinburgh from 1724-26. His book included many original observations. It was the first important British work on the anatomy and physiology of the eye” (G-M 1484.2). Cf. Burton Chance, “William Porterfield, M.D.: an almost forgotten opticophysiologist,” Archives of Ophthalmology 16:197-207 (1936).
BOA II:86; G-M 1484.2; Hirschberg §457.
Portius, Simon, 1496-1554.
See Porzio (303).
303 Porzio, Simone, 1496-1554.
De coloribus oculorum. Florence: L. Torrentino, 1550.
57 p.; 22 cm. (4to)
One of the earliest monographs on ophthalmology in which the author attempts to explain the cause of the variety of colors of eyes. The position of the eyes and the opinions of Aristotle and Galen on the structure of the eye are also discussed. The author lectured on medicine at Pisa from 1546 to 1552 and was also known as a scientist and philosopher.
BOA I:169; Durling 3742; Wellcome I:5218.
Possevino, Antonio, 1533 or 4-1611.
See Possevino (304).
304 Possevino, Antonio, d. ca. 1637.
Theoricae morborum libri quinque. Addita methodus studiorum medicinae ex Bibliotheca selecta ejus patrui. Mantua: F. Osanna, 1600.
256 p.; 15 cm. (8vo)
The Theoricae morborum is a poem in Latin hexameters which includes a section of lll lines (p. 24-28) on ophthalmology. Among the marginal references are: Morbi oculorum; Convulsio; Visus iners; Glaucoma; Suffusio; Cornea rupta; Epiphora.
Possevino, a Mantuan physician, was a nephew of the well-known Italian Jesuit writer Antonio Possevino (1533 or 4-1611). Pages 160-256 contain an extract from the latter’s great work Bibliotheca selecta (Rome, 1593) dealing with the study of medicine and the methods of the great physicians.
305 Post, Alfred Charles, 1806-1886.
Observations on the cure of strabismus, with engravings. . . . With an appendix on the new operation for the cure of stammering. New York: C. S. Francis, 1841.
viii, -67 p., 7 plates; 16 cm.
The operation for the cure of strabismus was first successfully performed by Dieffenbach (110) on October 26, 1839. Post, a New York surgeon, was probably the first American to operate for strabismus. A set of tinted lithographs by Nathaniel Currier (1813-1888) illustrate the anatomy of the muscles involved, the instruments used, and the methods of operation. This is one of the few scientific works illustrated by Currier who in 1850 formed the famous partnership with J. Merritt Ives.
305.1 Pott, Percivall, 1714-1788.
Observations on that disorder of the corner of the eye, commonly called fistula lachrymalis. London: C. Hitch and L. Hawes, 1758.
vii, , 84 p.; 20 cm. (8vo)
The first edition of Pott’s observations on lacrimal fistula, which was long considered to be definitive on the subject. The Observations went through numerous English editions, and was translated into German in 1771. It describes the anatomy of the parts, and “with regard to the treatment of lachrymal obstruction lays down three varieties of the disease: (1) Simple dilatation of the sacculus and obstruction of the nasal duct . . . ; (2) Inflammation, abscess, or ulceration of the same parts . . . ; (3) Obliteration of the natural duct, attended sometimes with caries of the bone” (James, p. 113).
Percivall Pott “was one of the busiest and most famous surgeons in England during the middle of the eighteenth century” (Heirs 928). He was a general surgeon at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital from 1744 for almost a half century, and was described by many as a surgical genius. His oeuvre consists of several epoch-making masterpieces, such as his treatises on hernia, head injuries, spinal caries (“Pott’s disease”), and hydrocele. On the other hand—according to Hirschberg—Pott “had a deleterious influence on the development of ophthalmology, because he defended couching against the cataract extraction” (§393).
AmEncOph XIII:10329; Blake, p. 360; Hirsch IV:664; Hirschberg §393; James, p. 113; NUC 467:530; Ovio I:1265 (1763 ed.); Pybus 1620 (1769 ed.).
305.2 Pott, Percivall, 1714-1788.
Observations on that disorder of the corner of the eye, commonly called fistula lachrymalis. The fourth edition, improved. London: Hawes, Clarke and Collins, 1772.
, vii, , 67 p.; 22 cm. (8vo)
The fourth improved edition of Pott’s famous treatise on lacrimal fistula [cf. (305.1)].
Blake, p. 360; James, p. 113 (1758 ed.); NUC 467:530.
306 Powell, James W., fl. 1847.
The eye: its imperfections and their prevention; comprising a familiar description of the anatomy and phisiology, of the organ of vision: rules for the preservation, improvement, and restoration of sight, with remarks on near sight and aged sight; on optics, and the use and abuse of spectacles, with directions for their selection. New York: The author, 1847.
, xiv, -139,  p.,  plate; 21 cm.
The purpose of this small volume was to advertise Dr. Powell’s practice rather than to contribute to ophthalmic knowledge. Acclaimed by the popular press, the work was properly ignored by reviewers in the professional journals. Powell dedicated this commercial publication to Arthur Jacob, M.D., professor of anatomy and physiology in Dublin, whose lectures he attended from 1828 to 1833.
307 Power, Henry, 1829-1911.
Illustrations of some of the principal diseases of the eye, with a brief account of their symptoms, pathology, and treatment. London: John Churchill and Sons, 1867.
vii, , 631 p., XII plates: ill.; 23 cm.
“A good example of the Victorian era” is how Power’s obituary in the British Medical Journal begins. He was a man of prodigious energy; hardly anyone could have held more offices; occupied more hospital posts; translated, edited or written more publications—and still have been one of London’s leading ophthalmic surgeons for half a century. The present work is Power’s major contribution to ophthalmic literature. The twelve lithographic plates are after Power’s own watercolors, painted from life.
BOA I:170; Hirsch IV:668; Hirschberg §660.
308 Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804.
The history and present state of discoveries relating to vision, light, and colours. London: J. Johnson, 1772.
2 v. (v, , xvi, 422 p., 14 plates, 1 table; , 423-812,  p., 9 plates); 26 cm. (4to)
Undertaken as the first volume of a proposed history of all branches of experimental science, this work presents one of the earliest historical accounts of theories of vision, light, and color. Its value lies chiefly in its distillation and narration of the works of others. Priestley, a supporter of the corpuscular theory of light, sought to provide direct experimental proof for this hypothesis in opposition to the wave theory. Priestley’s knowledge of mathematics was inadequate for the task which he had set; the book was a financial failure; and he abandoned his scheme to write a multivolume theory of science.
BOA I:171; Crook S479; Hirschberg §88.
309 Puget, Louis de, 1629-1709.
Observations sur la structure des yeux de divers insectes, et sur la trompe des papillons, contenuës en deux lettres au R. P. Lamy . . . & dans un memoire qui explique les figures de quelque objets qu’on découvre par le secours du microscope. Lyons: L. Plaignard, 1706.
, 157,  p., 3 plates; 17 cm. (8vo)
These two letters addressed to the Reverend Père Lamy, a Benedictine father, contain early microscopical observations on the structure of the eyes of such insects as flies, grasshoppers, and crayfish and on the butterfly’s proboscis. The first letter was originally published in the Journal des Sçavans (January 31, 1704).
309.1 Ramón y Cajal, Santiago, 1852-1934.
Die Structur des Chiasma Opticum, nebst einer allgemeinen Theorie der Kreuzung der Nervenbahnen. Aus dem Spanischen übersetzt von Dr. J. Bresler, mit einem Vorwort von Dr. P. Flechsig. Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1899.
vi,  , 66 p.: ill.; 25 cm.
A four part treatise on the optic chiasm, on the general theory of the decussation of the sensory and motor tracts, as well as on the corpus callosum and the association fibers.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal was an eminent Spanish neurohistologist, who found his way to medicine through his love of drawing and anatomy. After serving as a regimental surgeon in Cuba, he returned to Spain and became professor of anatomy at the University of Zaragoza in 1877. Later he was on the medical faculties at the Universities of Valencia, Barcelona, and Madrid, where he specialized in histologic studies. He received recognition through a demonstration of silver-impregnated brain sections in 1889, was awarded honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge, and gave a series of lectures at Clark University (Worcester, Massachusetts) in the 1890s. In 1906 Ramón y Cajal was the Nobel Prize recipient jointly with Camillo Golgi for their work on the structure of the nervous system. In addition to well over 250 articles on histology, Ramón y Cajal published a number of monographs including one on the retina (cf. Founders, p. 74-77; Garrison, p. 681-682).
309.2 Rampinelli, Ramiro, 1697-1759.
Lectiones opticæ. Brescia: J. B. Bossini, 1760.
xxxii, 242,  p., , XXXII,  plates:  port.; 26 cm. (4to)
Fifteen “lessons” on optics by the Italian mathematician Ludovico Rampinelli. An Olivetan Benedictine monk, Rampinelli took the first name Ramiro and taught in the monasteries of his order in Bologna and Milano. He was the teacher of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, who—although a woman—was appointed professor at the University of Bologna in 1748. Rampinelli became professor of mathematics at the University of Pavia a year earlier. His other known work, Istituzioni di meccanica is an unpublished manuscript.
Lectiones was edited after the author’s death by Caesareus Sommariva. It is a richly illustrated volume with thirty-two folding plates with diagrams, a frontispiece portrait of the author, decorative ornamental initials, borders, vignettes, some woodcuts, and some copper engravings.
NUC 480:378; Poggendorff II:565-566.
310 Ramsay, Andrew Maitland, 1859-1946.
Atlas of external diseases of the eye. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1898.
xvi, 195 p., XLVIII plates; 29 cm.
Ramsay was a prominent Glasgow ophthalmic surgeon of the first quarter of this century, whose fame justly rests on this atlas, one of the finest productions of its kind. With thirty chromolithographs and eighteen photogravures, the atlas illustrates cases Ramsay dealt with at the Glasgow Eye Infirmary. The chromolithographs were produced by Maclagan & Cumming after photographs taken and colored by A. H. Geyer. The eighteen photogravures were prepared by the well-known Glasgow firm of T. & R. Annan.
Rawson, Sir William, 1783-1827.
See Adams (4, 4.1).
311 Redi, Francesco, 1626-1698.
Lettera intorno all’invenzione degli occhiali. Florence: F. Onofri, 1678.
14 p.,  plate; 24 cm. (4to)
An important document in the history of eyeglasses in which Redi relates the discovery of a reference to their invention in a manuscript dated 1299 which he regarded as the earliest reference to the use of spectacles. Redi ascribed the invention of eyeglasses, or at least their perfection, to the Dominican friar Allessandro della Spina (d. 1313). The evidence on this subject is fragmentary; however, it would seem that eyeglasses developed from a type of reading glass which probably took the form of a plano-convex lens laid directly on a page to enlarge the letters.
BOA II:88; Hirschberg §297.
311.1 Reghellini, Giovanni Maria, 1710-1772.
Osservazioni sopra alcuni casi rari medici, e chirurgici. Venice: P. Bassaglia for the author, 1764.
, cxxxii p.,  plate: ill. ; 25 cm. (4to)
Provenance: A. Rossi (inscription); —Ferdinando Palasciano (bookstamp); —Umberto Calamida (bookplate).
Six treatises on some unusual medical and surgical cases by the Venetian physician and surgeon, Giovanni Reghellini. The second and sixth treatises describe cataract operations. “Reghellini reports a patient in whom after the couching, the lens reappeared in the anterior chamber. He pushed it back into the interior of the eye while the patient was lying down. Reghellini criticizes [Jacques] Daviel’s extraction method [p. xxix-xxx], because it leads to numerous failures” (Hirschberg §404).
Blake, p. 375; BM 200:176; Haller Chir II:329; Hirschberg §404; NUC 485:553; Waller 7809.
Reichenbach, Johann Friedrich.
“Cautelae et observationes circa extricationem cataractae novam methodum synizesin operandi sistentes.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 3:278-323.
Rembrandt, Hermanszoon van Rijn, 1607-1669.
See Print 16.
311.2 Reuss, August, Ritter von, 1841-1924.
Ophthalmometrische Studien von Dr. Aug. Reuss, Assistenten an der Augenklinik der Wiener Universität; und Dr. M. Woinow aus Moskau. Vienna: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1869.
, 59 p.: diagrs., 5 woodcut ills. ; 24 cm.
Ophthalmometric studies by August Reuss and M. Woinow (422.2) containing “examinations on corneal astigmatism after the cataract extraction, about the angle alpha and a new apparatus by Woinow to measure the intraocular pressure” (Hirschberg §901).
“Reuss was born November 9, 1841 in Bilin, Boehemia, and studied in Prague and Vienna. Between 1866-1870 he was assistant at Arlt’s eye clinic; in 1870 he became assistant, in 1885 associate professor. In 1904 he was appointed full professor. When the Allgemeine Poliklinik was established in Vienna, Reuss became the director of the eye department and remained in this position for decades” (Hirschberg §1235). Complementing his academic and clinical career, Reuss published numerous significant works on the causes of blindness, the transillumination of ocular coats, color blindness, inflammatory eye diseases, trachoma, corneal erosion, and keratitis.
BM 201:339; Fischer II:1287; Hirsch V:978; Hirschberg §901, 1235; NUC 490:29; NYAM 33:106; Pagel, col. 1369.
Reuss, Christian Friedrich, 1745-1813, ed.
See Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112).
312 Reveillé-Parise, Joseph Henri, 1782-1852.
Hygiène oculaire, ou avis aux personnes dont les yeux sont foibles et d’une trop grande sensibilité; avec de nouvelles considérations sur les causes de la myopie ou vue basse, sur l’action des verres concaves et convexes ouvrage particulièrement destiné aux gens de lettres, aux hommes d’état, et à toutes les personnes qui se livrent aux travaux du cabinet. Paris: Cellot for Méquignon-Marvis, 1816.
, 193, [l] p.; 19 cm. (12mo)
A popular work on the hygiene of the eyes which went through many editions and translations. Early in his career the author was attached as a physician to Napoleon’s armies in Austria, Spain, Holland, and at Waterloo but his reputation grew out of his later work as a writer and medical journalist rather than as a practitioner. Dealing mainly with diseases of the eye affecting students, men of letters, and those whose work involves much reading, this book enters into the field of occupational diseases.
Rhazes (Abū Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakarīyā Abrazi), 865?-925?
“Treatise on the smallpox and measles.”
See Mead (254).
Rheterius, Joannes, trans.
See Fabricius von Hilden (133).
A rich storehouse or tresurie for the diseased.
See T., A. (368).
313 Richter, August Gottlieb, 1742-1812.
A treatise on the extraction of the cataract. Translated from the German. With a plate; and notes by the translator. London: J. Murray, 1791.
xv, , 214 p.,  plate; 23 cm. (8vo)
Richter, considered the “Reformer of German Surgery,” was editor of the first surgical journal, Chirurgische Bibliothek, 1771-1796. He is credited with removing the extraction operation for cataract from the hands of itinerant oculists and placing it in those of the ‘regular-bred’ surgeons. This English translation was taken from the first edition of the author’s Abhandlung von der Ausziehung des grauen Staares (Göttingen, 1773).
Riester, F. J., trans.
See Weller (412).
Riolan, Jean, 1538-1605.
See Bailey (30.1).
Risner, Friedrich, d. 1580, ed.
See Alhazen (8).
Romano, Fra Teofilo, trans.
See Lacepiera (222).
Roosa, Daniel Bennett St. John, 1838-1908, ed. & trans.
See Stellwag von Carion (354) and (355).
313.1 Rosas, Anton, Edler von, 1791-1855.
Lehre von den Augenkrankheiten. Zum Gebrauche für practische Aerzte und Wundärzte, wie auch zur Benutzung als Leitfaden beim klinischen Unterrichte. Vienna: J. B. Wallishausser, 1834.
xiv, 599,  p.; 20 cm.
Note: In the Becker Library’s copy signature 9 is misbound, causing an error in the sequence of pagination.
A systematic textbook on ophthalmology in two main parts: 1. pathology and therapy of eye diseases; 2. organic defects of the eye.
A Viennese of Hungarian origin, Anton Rosas was one of the leading ophthalmic surgeons practicing in the first half of the nineteenth century. At first, he was assistant to G. J. Beer (37-40) at the Vienna Eye Clinic, then later he became professor of ophthalmology in Padua, where he established an ambulatory eye institute. Having returned to Vienna in 1821 he succeeded Beer at the eye clinic and became professor of ophthalmology at the University of Vienna. Through the simplification of some methods of treatment and the invention of suitable instruments for eye surgery, he greatly contributed to the advancement of ophthalmology. He was a prolific medical author who wrote with equal facility in both German and Italian.
AmEncOph XV:11467; BM 207:53; Callisen XXXII:2; Hirsch IV:876; NUC 508:685; Waller 8166a.
314 Rosenmüller, Johann Christian, 1771-1820.
Partium externarum oculi humani imprimis organorum lachrymalium descriptio anatomica iconibus illustrata. Leipzig: S. Linck, 1797.
xlvi, -72 p., 5 plates; 24 cm. (4to)
Bound with Haase (173).
Rosenmüller’s treatise on the external parts of the human eye and particularly the lachrymal glands is introduced by an extensive annotated bibliography of more than 175 works on this subject. The author, professor of anatomy and surgery at Leipzig, was an able artist and the copperplate engravings illustrating this book are from his own drawings.
Hirschberg §532; Waller 8225.
315 Rowley, William, 1743-1806.
An essay on the ophthalmia or inflammation of the eyes, and the diseases of the transparent cornea; with improvements in the methods of cure. London: F. Newbery, 1771.
, ii, 47 p.; 19 cm. (8vo)
The first of several ophthalmic works by one of the more curious figures in eighteenth century British ophthalmology, a man once described as having “the appearance of quackery and reliability at the same time.” The greater part of the work is given to the treatment of ophthalmia; the last seven pages to leukoma.
Blake, p. 390; Hirsch IV:904; Hirschberg §396.
316 Rowley, William, 1743-1806.
A treatise on the principal diseases of the eyes; containing a critical and candid examination of the antient and modern methods of cure, of the present defective modes of practice, with an account of new, mild, and successful methods for the cure of diseases of this organ. London: F. Newbery, 1773.
, iv, 12, xiii, -159 p.; 21 cm. (8vo)
In 1771 the author established the St. John’s Hospital for Diseases of the Eyes, Legs, and Breast in London, considered by some to have been the first special eye hospital in England. The institution was defunct by 1773 but its name reveals three of Rowley’s primary medical interests. He published three ophthalmological works in his lifetime; the first, a treatise on ophthalmia, appeared in 1771 and the last, a direct plagiarism of Plenk’s textbook (299) was issued in 1790. The present work deals primarily with the medical treatment of eye diseases, though the author asserts that he is perhaps the first author of an ophthalmological work to possess a thorough knowledge of both medicine and surgery. The book was favorably, though not enthusiastically, received by the profession. It is unknown why after the publication of this creditable work Rowley resorted to such bold plagiarism seventeen years later. Cf. Charles Snyder, “Why, William Rowley?” Archives of Ophthalmology 75:102-105 (1966).
BOA I:183; Hirschberg §392.
317 Ruete, Christian Georg Theodor, 1810-1867.
Die Scrophelkrankheit, insbesondere die scrophulöse Augenentzündung. Göttingen: Dieterich, 1838.
xii, 222 p., VIII plates; 22 cm.
“Er gehört zu den Gründen der Reform der Augenheilkunde. Von ihm rührt die Augenspiegelung im ungekehrten Bilde und die Erfindung eines neuen Ophthalmotrops her. Er brauchte zuerst das Wort Uebersichtigheit” (Hirsch). This work on phlyctenular conjunctivitis was the first of Ruete’s many monographs, written while he was Privat-Docent at Göttingen. Plates III thru VIII are hand-colored, but without much care or attention to chromatic accuracy.
Hirsch IV:918; Hirschberg §483.
318 Ruete, Christian Georg Theodor, 1810-1867.
Lehrbuch der Ophthalmologie für Aerzte und Studirende. Brunswick: F. Vieweg & Son, 1845.
xvi, 820 p.: ill.; 21 cm.
The last systematic textbook of ophthalmology published in German before the introduction of the ophthalmoscope. Ruete, Karl Himly’s (191) protegé, included a description of hypermetropia in the second edition of this work (1853) which marked a real advance in the understanding of the condition. He is also remembered for having introduced ophthalmoscopy by means of the inverted image.
319 Ruete, Christian Georg Theodor, 1810-1867.
Bildliche Darstellung der Krankheiten des menschlichen Auges. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner, 1854-60.
9 pts. in 6 v.: ill.; 39 cm.
I-II (1854): viii, 63 p., plates I-VIII.
III (1855): iv, , 40 p., plates IX-XII, Supplementtafel I.
IV (1855): , 20 p., plates XIII-XVI.
V-VI (1856): iv, 34 p., plates XVII-XXIV.
VII-VIII (1858): viii, 65 p., plates XXV-XXXIII.
IX (1860): , 17 p., plate XXXIV, Supplementtafeln II-V.
An important work on eye diseases, therapeutics and ocular surgery. The nine sections of this work are illustrated with thirty-nine engraved plates, most of which are superbly hand-colored. It is interesting that Ruete should have preferred this older, more time-consuming and expensive method to chromolithography. The detail and intensity of colors in these plates are superior to anything that chromolithography was capable of at this period. Plates II-VIII provide ophthalmoscopic views of the fundus; the remaining plates illustrate the external diseases of the eye.
Hirsch IV:918; Hirschberg §483.
Rufus, of Ephesus, fl. late 1st cent. B.C. -mid- 1st cent. A.D.?
See Aetius, of Amida (5).
320 Rungius, Johannes, 16th cent.
De praecipuis visus symptomatis eorumque causis physica & medica contemplatio. Basel: L. Osten, 1578.
 p.; 19 cm. (4to)
Rungius, the younger son of a family of noted Protestant theologians from the Pomeranian town of Greifswald, studied medicine at Basel and in 1578 presented this thesis on sight and the defects of vision. It deals primarily with physiological optics and theories of vision from a humanistic rather than a medical viewpoint, but it appears to be the earliest published ophthalmological thesis. Huldrych M. Koelbing provides an account of the author and an analysis of the significance of this work in the early history of ophthalmology in Renaissance der Augenheilkunde: 1540-1630 (Bern & Stuttgart: Hans Huber, 1967).
321 Russel, J., Physician and Oculist.
His elixirated spirit of scurvy-grass, both plain and purging. With his pectoral lozenges and worm-powder. And also his pills of scurvy-grass. London?: s.n., ca. 1690.
1 leaf; 235 x 171 mm.
Provenance: A. E. Russell (bookplate); —Society of Apothecaries, London (bookplate).
This broadsheet is a remarkable and possibly unique advertisement of a seventeenth century London physician, oculist, and apothecary. Fifteen crude woodcuts surround the text of the first page, two of which illustrate eye surgery. The Bodleian Library holds a similar broadside by J. Russel (Wing R2340) with similar cuts but a quite different text. A second Russel broadside from the British Museum is reproduced by L. A. G. Strong in Dr. Quicksilver 1660-1742: the life and times of Thomas Dover, M.D. (London: A. Melrose, 1955). Accompanying the broadside are a single sheet of letterhead stationary from the Society of Apothecaries of London which contains references to scurvy grass (cochlearia) in books in the Society’s library and a letter (1953) from the Bodleian Library describing its copy of a Russel broadside.
Saemisch, Theodor, 1833-1909, ed.
See Handbuch der gesammten Augenheilkunde (176).
322 Saint-Yves, Charles de, 1667-1733.
Nouveau traité des maladies des yeux, les remedes qui y conviennent, & les operations de chirurgie que leurs guérisons éxigent. Avec de nouvelles decouvertes sur la structure de l’oeil, qui prouvent l’organe immédiat de la vûë. Paris: P. A. Le Mercier, 1722.
, 373,  p.; 17 cm. (12mo)
“Records the removal of a cataract ‘en masse’ from a living subject” (G-M 5827). Saint-Yves extracted a cataractous lens which had been dislodged and forced into the anterior chamber by an unsuccessful attempt at depression. While this was the author’s only published work, it assured him a permanent place in the history of ophthalmology. Shastid (AmEncOph XV:11496-11498) cites seven innovations and observations first announced in this treatise, including the first extensive use of silver nitrate in treating eye diseases, the earliest use of silver nitrate in cases of ophthalmia neonatorum, and the first exact description of gonorrheal ophthalmia. The dedication is signed by the author and the Avis (p. [l9]) states that only copies so signed are genuine.
G-M 5827; Hirschberg §359; Waller 8406.
“Observations on some points of the anatomy of the eye.”
See Travers (379) p. -389.
323 Santa Anna, Joaquim José de.
Elementos de cirurgia ocular. Lisbon: S. T. Ferreira, 1793.
viii, 279 p.,  plates; 21 cm. (4to)
Often described as the first Portuguese textbook of ophthalmology, this treatise was not an original work but rather an acknowledged translation of two standard works on the eye. In the foreword Santa Anna states that the sections on the anatomy and physiology of the eye were taken from Deshais-Gendron’s treatise (101) and those on pathology and therapy from Plenk’s text (299). This translation of Plenk’s work and the less honorable plagiarism of it by William Rowley [cf. (316)] were first fully recognized by Julius Hirschberg and detailed in “Über ein abgeschriebenes Lehrbuch der Augenheilkunde,” Centralblatt für praktische Augenheilkunde 34:2-14 (1910).
324 Santerelli, Giovanni Battista Geremè, b. ca. 1770.
Delle cateratte. . . . Forli: Dalla stamperia dipartimentale, 1810.
128 p., III plates; 22 cm. (8vo)
Santerelli’s second monograph on cataract received scant attention from his contemporaries, doubtless because it was written in Italian. From the beginning of his medical studies Santerelli’s interests were focused on the treatment of cataract. A student of both Angelo Nannoni (270) and his son Lorenzo (271), Santerelli had numerous opportunities to witness the operation of depression preferred by the former, and the extraction performed by the latter. Later, during his tour of the principal universities of Europe, Santerelli continued to pay particular attention to techniques of cataract surgery employed by the most eminent ophthalmic surgeons. The present work is a digest of his observations. In the first seven chapters the author describes both depression and extraction before declaring his preference for extraction in the eighth and final chapter. The text is illustrated with three very detailed folding copperplate engravings, printed on especially heavy paper.
Callisen VII:168, XXVIII:192; Hirschberg §1114.
325 Santi, Felice.
Il discorso . . . sull’uso, ed officio del punto scoperto da Soemering nel fondo dell’occhio umano. Perugia: F. Baduel, 1816.
23 p.; 24 cm. (4to)
Francesco Buzzi in 1782 was the first to notice the yellow spot in the human retina. His observation attracted no attention, however, and it was Samuel Thomas Soemmerring who in 1795 “re-discovered” and described the macula lutea, making its existence generally known. Soemmerring imagined this macula flava to be an actual perforation in the retina, which he made responsible for the “blind-spot” of Mariotte in the field of vision.
In the present discourse the author, professor of medicine at Perugia, discusses the function of this macchia giallognola (yellow spot), or il punto di Soemering, which he describes as functioning as a second pupil, absorbing the visual rays or images of objects received by the retina, and directing them through its aperture to the optic nerve.
Sarrasin, Jean Antoine, 1547-1598, ed.
See Fabricius von Hilden (133).
325.1 Sarti, Cristofano.
L’ottica della natura e dell’educazione indirizzata a risolvere il famoso problema di Molineux. Lucca: F. Bonsignori, 1792.
xvi, 227 p.: ill.; 20 cm. (8vo)
An Italian scientist’s answer to a famous question attributed first to William Molineux (Dioptrica nova, 1692), that is, whether or not a person born blind but suddenly having gained vision (e.g., by cataract operation) would be able to recognize different shapes of objects by sight without touching the objects. “The question was examined by many philosophers [Locke, Leibniz, Diderot, G. Berkeley, etc.] of the eighteenth century, but also practically by ophthalmologists who had gained personal experience in that field. A whole literature exists on this topic” (Hirschberg §455).
Sarwey, Theophil Andreas, respondent.
“De paracentesi oculi in hydrophthalmia, et amblyopia senum.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 1:341-370.
326 Saunders, John Cunningham, 1773-1810.
A treatise on some practical points relating to the diseases of the eye. . . . To which is added, a short account of the author’s life, and his method of curing the congenital cataract, by his friend and colleague, J. R. Farre. London: J. McCreery for Longmans, 1811.
xliii, [l], 216 p., 9 plates: port.; 25 cm. (8vo)
In 1805 Saunders founded the first ophthalmological hospital in London, the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital, now “Moorfields,” known then as the London Dispensary for Curing Diseases of the Eye and Ear. This work was published posthumously at the expense of the Governors of the Hospital and by subscription to aid the author’s widow. In this treatise Saunders first introduced belladona in the treatment of eye disease.
BOA I:185; Hirschberg §634.
Sauvages de la Croix, François Boissier de, 1706-1767, praeses.
See Guillemard (167).
327 Scarpa, Antonio, 1752-1832.
Saggio di osservazioni e d’esperienze sulle principali malattie degli occhi. Pavia: B. Comino, 1801.
, xi, , 278,  p., 4 plates: port.; 31 cm. (fol.)
“This beautifully illustrated work was the first text-book on the subject to be published in the Italian language. Its author has been called ‘the father of Italian ophthalmology’ ” (G-M 5835). In this work Scarpa first described the operation of iridodialysis. The chapters on diseases of the vessels in the eye, on cataract, and on staphyloma are particularly noteworthy. Scarpa’s books were all superbly illustrated with his own drawings and the plates in this work, engraved by Faustino Anderloni, bear witness to Scarpa’s artistic talent. Duke-Elder considered this the greatest work on ophthalmic pathology that had appeared up to its time (7:476-477).
G-M 5835; Hirschberg §449.
328 Scarpa, Antonio, 1752-1832.
Practical observations on the principal diseases of the eyes: illustrated with cases. Translated from the Italian of Antonio Scarpa . . . with notes, by James Briggs. London: T. Bensley for T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1806.
xx, , 536,  p., 3 plates; 23 cm. (8vo)
First English edition of Scarpa’s classic textbook which marked “the highest culmination of the Galenic tradition of ophthalmic pathology” and in which “all inflammations of the eye were merely ‘ophthalmias’ without specific differentiation” (Duke-Elder 7:476-477).
Duke-Elder 7:476-477; Hirschberg §449.
Scarpa, Antonio, 1752-1832.
See also Weiss (140.2).
329 Schaeffer, Johann Gottlieb, 1720-1795.
Geschichte des grauen Staares und der neuen Operation solchen durch Herausnehmung der Crystalllinse zu heylen nebst einigen daraus gefolgerten und erörterten Fragen. Regensburg: J. L. Montag, 1765.
, 26 p.,  plate; 20 cm. (4to)
Because of the untimely death of his father, Schaeffer was forced to become an apprentice to an apothecary until his older brother, a noted naturalist and theologian, made it possible for him to take up his education. He took his medical degree at Altdorf in 1745 and practiced for the remainder of his life in Regensburg where he was the first to introduce inoculation. This is the first edition of a noted work on the radical treatment of cataract in which the author essentially follows Daviel’s method (2).
Hirschberg §420; Waller 8560.
Schedel, Hartmann, 1440-1514.
See Print 18.
330 Scheffler, Hermann, 1820-1903.
The theory of ocular defects and of spectacles. Translated from the German . . . by Robert Brudenell Carter. . . . With prefatory notes and a chapter of practical instructions. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1869.
xxii, 240 p.; 30 cm.
This translation of Scheffler’s Die Theorie der Augenfehler und der Brille (Wien, 1868) includes seventy-three printed pages of material which did not appear in the German original. This matter, giving practical instructions on the examination of the eye and the selection of lenses, was specifically requested from the author by Carter for inclusion in his English translation. Carter felt that this book successfully approached problems left unresolved in Donders’s work on defects of accommodation and refraction (115).
331 Scheiner, Christoph, 1575-1650.
Oculus hoc est: fundamentum opticum, in quo ex accurata oculi anatome, abstrusarum experien-tiarum sedula pervestigatione, ex invisis specierum visibilium tam everso quam erecto situ spectaculis, necnon solidis rationum momentis radius visualis eruitur; sua visioni in oculo sedes decernitur; anguli visorii ingenium aperitur. . . . Innsbruck: D. Agricola, 1619.
, 254 p.: ill.; 20 cm. (4to)
“Scheiner, a Jesuit astronomer, was a pioneer in physiological optics. He demonstrated how images fall on the human retina, noting the changes in curvature of the lens during accommodation, and devised the pin-hole test (‘Scheiner’s test’) to illustrate accommodation and refraction” (G-M 1480). The schematic diagram of the eye offered by the author was the first scientifically accurate representation of the human eye and as such marked a dramatic advance over the centuries-old Galenic conception of this organ.
BOA II:94; G-M 1480; Hirschberg §310; Waller 8585.
332 Scheiner, Christoph, 1575-1650.
Pantographice, seu ars delineandi res quaslibet per parallelogrammum lineare seu cavum, mechanicum, mobile; libellis duobus explicata, & demonstrationibus geometricis illustrata: quorum prior epipedographicen, sive planorum, posterior stereographicen, seu solidorum aspectabilium viuam imitationem atque projectionem edocet. Rome: L. Grignani, 1631.
, 108 p.: ill.; 25 cm. (4to)
An interesting but lesser-known work of Scheiner’s, in which his interests in optics and mechanics are combined. The pantograph or tracer is an instrument which he invented for making copies on a predetermined scale of any given plane design.
Scheligius, Albertus, fl. 1583, ed.
See Mercuriale (256).
333 Schenck von Grafenberg, Johannes, 1530-1598.
Obseruationes medicae de capite humano: hoc est, exempla capitis morborum, causarum, signorum, eue[n]tuum, curationum, vt singularia, sic abdita & monstrosa. Ex clariss. medicorum, ueterum simul & recentiorum scriptis. . .collecta. Basel: Officina Frobeniana, 1584.
, 448,  p.; 16 cm. (8vo)
One of the most distinguished physicians of his time, Schenk’s magnum opus was his Observationum medicarum rariorum libri VII, originally published at Basel (1584-97) and reprinted in numerous editions throughout the seventeenth century. The work is a massive compilation of descriptions of pathological states of all the parts of the human body, drawn from the whole of medical literature, from the writings of Hippocrates to those of Schenck’s own contemporaries. The present small octavo volume is an abridgement of the first of these seven books, treating the diseases affecting the various parts of the head. The diseases of the eyes are discussed on pages 296-334.
Durling 4107; Osler 3932; Waller 8593; Wellcome I:5824.
Schlagintweit, Wilhelm August Joseph, 1792-1854.
See Neue Bibliothek (272.1).
334 Schmidt, Johann Adam, 1759-1809.
Über Nachstaar und Iritis nach Staaro-perationen. Vienna: A. Camesina, 1801.
, 84 p.; 28 cm. (4to)
“Inflammation of the iris was named iritis by Schmidt. In 1801, with Himly, he founded the first journal devoted to ophthalmology, the Ophthalmologische Bibliothek” (G-M 5836). This is the first book form edition of this work which originally appeared in Abhandlung Roemisch-Kaiserlich-Königlich Josephinische Medicinische-Chirurgische Academie, Vienna, 2:209-292 (1801).
334.1 Schoen, Johann Matthias Albrecht, 1800-1870.
Handbuch der pathologischen Anatomie des menschlichen Auges. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1828.
xiv, , 233,  p.; 21 cm.
A textbook on the pathological anatomy of the human eye, considered the second monograph on the subject—James Wardrop’s Essays on the morbid anatomy of the human eye, 1808 (400) being the first. Johann Matthias Schoen practiced as an internist all his life, but he specialized in ophthalmology and published numerous works in this field. He is noted for the first exact description of the gonorrheal eye inflammation (1834) and for the explanation of arcus senilis (1831); cf. Gorin, p.120.
AmEncOph XV:11573; BM 215:728; Gorin, p. 120; Hirsch V:118; NUC 528:695.
335 Schoen, Johann Matthias Albrecht, 1800-1870.
Nosologisch-therapeutische Darstellung der go-norrho schen Augenentzündung. Hamburg: Aug. Campe, 1834.
xii, 131,  p.; 19 cm.
One of the earliest monographs on gonorrheal ophthalmia.
Hirsch V:118; Hirschberg §359, 515.
Schreger, Bernhard Nathanael Gottlob, 1766-1825, trans.
See Soemmerring (349).
336 Schuster, Julius, 1886-1949.
Nachwort zu Goethe, Beyträge zur Optik und historische Skizze zur “Grossen Tafel.” Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1964 (Berlin, 1928).
xxxvi p.; 17 cm.
Issued with Goethe (156).
Schwalbe, Gustav Albert, 1844-1916.
See Wecker (408.1).
Schweinitz, George Edmund de.
See De Schweinitz (100.1).
Schweling, Henricus, respondent.
See Coper (87).
337 Scultetus, Johannes, 1595-1645.
ΧΕΙΡΟΠΛΟΘΗΚΗ, seu . . . Armamentarium chirurgicum XLIII. tabulis aeri elegantissimè incisis, nec ante hac visis, exornatum. Opus posthumum . . . in quo tot, tam veterum ac recentiorum instrumenta ab authore correcta, quàm noviter ab ipso inventa, quot ferè hodiè ad usitatas operationes manuales feliciter peragendas requiruntur, depicta reperiuntur, cum annexa brevi tabularum descriptione, & sequentibus cautionibus ac curationibus chirurgico-medicis per omnes ferè corporis humani partes externas observatis. . . . The Hague: A. Vlacq, 1656.
, 180 (i.e. 160), 159-328,  p.: ill.; 19 cm. (8vo)
Bound with G. Bidloo’s Exercitationum anatomico-chirurgicarum decas (49).
The third edition of a copiously illustrated manual of surgical technique and instruments that went through at least fourteen Latin editions after its first publication at Ulm in 1653. It was translated into German, Dutch, English and French as well. Tabulae XXXIII and XXXVI illustrate procedures for various operations on the eye, which are described in the accompanying text (p. 115-119, 127-132). Among the one hundred surgical observations appended to the plates and text, observationes XX, XXI, XXXIV and XXXVI deal with ocular disorders.
Includes an extra engraved title-page dated 1657.
338 Seiler, Burkhard Wilhelm, 1779-1843.
Beobachtungen urspruenglicher Bildungs-fehler und gaenzlichen Mangels der Augen. Dresden: E. Blochmann for Walther, 1833.
, 64,  p., 1 plate: ill.; 47cm.
In 1833 J. A. W. Hedenus (1760-1833) celebrated fifty years of service to the Medico-Chirurgical Academy of Dresden at which time F. A. von Ammon (12, 13, 14, 15), Ludwig Choulant, August Wilhelm Hedenus, and Seiler published memorial essays to mark the occasion. Seiler’s contribution, a treatise on congenital defects and malformations of the eyes, was the first monograph on this subject. The work was described by von Ammon as a classic which greatly enriched the literature of ophthalmology.
Seiz, Georg Friedrich, respondent.
“De empyesi oculi s[ive] pure in secunda oculi camera stagnante.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 2:175-195.
338.1 Selected monographs:
[Adolf] Kussmaul [sic] and [Adolf] Tenner on epileptiform convulsions from hæmorrhage; [Albrecht] Wagner on the resection of bones and joints; [Albrecht von] Graefe’s three memoirs on iridectomy in iritis, cho-roiditis, and glaucoma. London: The New Sydenham Society, 1859.
viii, , 380 p.: ill.; 22 cm.
Series: New Sydenham Society; v. 5.
The third monograph in this volume is a collection of essays on iridectomy by Albrecht von Graefe. Realizing their significance, Thomas Windsor (1811-1910) obtained the author’s permission to translate these three essays, originally published as articles in von Graefe’s Archiv für Ophthalmologie between 1855 and 1858. They are: “On iridectomy as a means of treatment in chronic iritis and irido-choroiditis” (Bd. II, Abt. II:202-257); “On iridectomy in glaucoma, and on the glaucomatous process” (Bd. III, Abt. II:-560); and “Additional clinical remarks on glaucoma, glaucomatous diseases, and their treatment by iridectomy” (Bd. IV, Abt. II:127-61).
In the first essay on coremorphosis, or the construction of an artificial pupil, von Graefe explains his adaption of iridectomy for the treatment of iritis and irido-choroiditis. The year following the publication of this article, in June of 1856, von Graefe performed his first iridectomy for the treatment of glaucoma. The results were published in 1857 in the second article of this collection. Von Graefe’s perfection of the operation of iridectomy revolutionized the treatment of acute congestive glaucoma. Hirschberg likened its impact on ocular therapeutics to Daviel’s description of the operation for cataract extraction (2) more than a century earlier.
BM 142:1423-1424; NUC 413:410; Reynolds 2958.
338.2 Selva, Lorenzo, ca. 1716-1800.
Sei dialoghi ottici teorico-pratici, dedicati all’ eccellentissimo Senato da Lorenzo Selva, Ottico Publico Stipendiato. Venice: S. Occhi, 1787.
XII, 184 p., IV folding plates; 28 cm. (fol.)
Provenance: Nec versa retorquent G. P. C. (bookplate); — Fratelli Salimbeni (book label).
“A series of six dialogues giving instruction on the defects of the eyes and the means of correcting them, [as well as about] optical instruments . . . and theories of light, particularly those of Newton. The first dialogue deals with the construction of the camera obscura, the second and third with models of the telescope, the fourth with the achromatic telescope, the fifth with microscopes, and the sixth with burning mirrors . . .” (BOA II:98). The volume is decorated with head- and tail-pieces and woodcut initials; the four copperplates at the end depict optical instruments in remarkably clear design.
Lorenzo Selva “was an optician established at Venice who submitted various microscopes of his invention to the Royal Academy of Science at Paris. The Academy approved of one of these models, as it was ‘purely catoptric and was easier to construct, clearer and more simple than a dioptric one’ ” (ibid.).
BOA II:98; Dawson, p. 500; NUC 537:672; Poggendorff II:901.
339 Serre, Henri Auguste, 1802-1870.
Essai sur les phosphènes ou anneaux lumineux de la rétine considérés dans leur rapports avec la physiologie et la pathologie de la vision. Paris: Victor Masson, 1853.
xx, 472 p.: diagrs.; 22 cm.
Julius Pagel remarked about this work in Hirsch’s Biographisches Lexikon, “Auch haben seine gründlichen Untersuchungen über die ‘Phosphene’, deren Bedeutung allerdings durch die Erfindung des Augenspiegels hinfällig geworden ist, ein gewisses historisches Interesse und zeigen immerhin seine ingeniöse Methode zur Untersuchung der Retina.” The term phosphene originates with Serre (d’Uzes), who combined the Greek to fws, light, with fainomai, to appear.
Hirsch V:234; Hirschberg §619.
Shān-Tián, Lì-qīng, 1786-1846, trans.
See Plenk (300).
340 Sichel, Jules, 1802-1868.
Traité de l’ophthalmie, la cataracte et l’amaurose, pour servir de supplément au Traité des maladies des yeux de Weller. Paris: G. Baillière,. . .et al., 1837.
xi, , 750,  p., 4 plates; 22 cm.
“Le besoin d’un bon traité d’ophthalmologie est vivement senti en France. . . . La traduction de l’ouvrage de Weller et le manuel de M. Stoeber sont les seuls ouvrages que nous ayons pu recommander jusqu’ici à ceux qui voulaient acquérir des connaisances spéciales sur cette branche de pathologie” (Préf., p. [vii]). Thus Sichel presents his reasons for offering the present work, which he hoped would at least in part remedy this deficiency. It remains, along with his Mémoire sur le glaûcome (Brussels, 1842) and the Iconographie ophthalmologique (Paris, 1852-59) one of Sichel’s three most important contributions to ophthalmic literature. German born and educated, Sichel migrated to Paris in 1829, where he remained the rest of his life, earning the appellation “der Apostel des deutschen Augenheilkunde in Frankreich.”
BOA I:192; Heirs 914; Hirschberg §559, 560.
340.1 Sichel, Jules, 1802-1868.
Nouveau recueil de pierres sigillaires d’oculistes romains, pour la plupart inédites, extrait d’une monographie inédite de ces monuments épigraphiques. Paris: V. Masson & Son, 1866.
119 p.; 24 cm.
Provenance: Inscribed by the author to Monsr. Chéron; —Ex libris Ed. Bonnet, D.M.P. (bookplate).
Jules Sichel was a polymath whose interests included the history of medicine, ancient and oriental languages, archaeology, and entomology. He also assembled valuable collections of books, butterflies, and ancient Roman inscription stones. These stones are in fact small rectangular stamps made of serpentine, nephrite, or slate and inscribed in Latin with names of ophthalmologists, description of medications, and their mode of application. Nouveau recueil is Sichel’s second publication on the subject, Cinq cachets inédits de médecins oculistes romains (Paris, 1845) being the first (cf. Hirschberg §194, 559).
Hirschberg §559; NUC 545:171.
341 Signorotti, Francesco.
Informazione fatta dal chirurgo Francesco Signorotti . . . contro M. Domenico Anel, qual pretese esser egli l’unico inventore, ed il primo trovatore di stromento atto alla guariggione delle fistole lacrimali. Geneva & Torino: P. M. Dutto, 1713.
12 p.; 19 cm. (4to)
Bound with Anel (16, 17, 18).
See Melli (255).
Sigwart, Georg Friedrich, 1711-1795, praeses.
“Novum problema chirurgicum de extractione cataractae ultra perficienda.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 3:134-228.
Sigwart, Georg Friedrich, 1711-1795.
“Specimen ophthalmiologiae de sanatione ophthalmiae sive ophthalmicis externis, ut singulari specie solidae praxeos medicae.”
In Dissertationes medicae selectae Tubingenses (112) 3:324-415.
342 Sloane, Sir Hans, 1660-1753.
An account of a most efficacious medicine for soreness, weakness, and several other distempers of the eyes. London: D. Browne, 1745.
, 17 p.; 20 cm. (8vo)
Sloane was an eminent London physician and naturalist, first assistant to Sydenham, Newton’s successor as President of the Royal Society, and an inveterate collector. His library of more than 50,000 books and 3,500 manuscripts was purchased on his death by the British government and formed the nucleus of the British Museum. This pamphlet, the only separate medical work published by Sloane, is indicative of the dismal state of ophthalmic medicine in the mid-eighteenth century. The ‘efficacious medicine’ which Sloane recommends here for all cases of ophthalmia was a once-secret liniment compounded of viper fat, aloes, and hematite. The principal ingredient, tutty of crude zinc oxide obtained from the flues of smelting furnaces, was known and used by the earliest Arabic ophthalmologists. The liniment closely resembles several given more than a century before by the anonymous A. T. in the home-remedy book, A rich storehouse (368). Burton Chance published an account of this “wretched” work in 1938, “Sir Hans Sloane’s account of an efficacious medicine for soreness of the eyes,” Archives of Ophthalmology 19: -925.
343 Smee, Alfred, 1818-1877.
The eye in health and disease; with an account of the optometer, for the adaption of glasses, for impaired, aged, or defective sight; being the substance of lectures delivered at the Central London Ophthalmic Hospital. . . . Second edition: to which is appended, a paper on the stereoscope and binocular perspective. London: Longman and Co., 1854.
, [iii]-iv, [vii]-viii, 99 p., IV plates: ill.; 23 cm.
The second edition of a work originally published in 1847 under the title Vision in health and disease. A surgeon with an interest in the diseases of the eye, Smee is better known for his considerable achievements in the field of electro-metallurgy.
Hirsch V:306; Hirschberg §663.
344 Smith, Priestly, b. 1845.
Glaucoma: its causes, symptoms, pathology, and treatment. London: J. & A. Churchill, 1879.
xv, [l], 281 p., [l4] plates; 22 cm.
An eminent British ophthalmologist, Priestly Smith was ophthalmic surgeon at Queens Hospital, Birmingham, and professor of ophthalmology at the University from the founding of that chair in 1897 until 1912. He also wrote the section on glaucoma in Norris and Oliver’s System of diseases of the eye (367).
345 Smith, Robert, 1689-1768.
A compleat system of opticks in four books, viz, a popular, a mathematical, a mechanical, and a philosophical treatise. To which are added remarks upon the whole. Cambridge: The author and C. Crownfield; London: S. Austen and R. Dodsley, 1738.
2 v. (, vi, , 280 p., 45 plates; , -455, [l], 171,  p., 18 plates); 26 cm. (4to)
A comprehensive textbook on light and one of the most noted works of the eighteenth century written by the Master of Trinity College and founder of what are still known as ‘Smith’s Prizes’ in mathematics at Cambridge. Appended to Smith’s text is James Jurin’s “Essay upon distinct and indistinct vision.” Jurin (1684-1759) was a London physician interested in physiological optics.
BOA I:194; Hirschberg §344.
346 Smith, Robert, 1689-1768.
Volkomen samenstel der optica of ge-zigtkunde, behelzende eene gemeenzaame, eene wiskonstige, eene werktuiglyke en eene natuurkundige verhandeling: verrkyt met veele aanmerkingen van den schryver, als mede met eene verhandeling van Dr. Jurin over het duidelyk en onduidelyk zien. Alles met zeer veele plaaten opgehelderd. In ‘t Engelsch beschreeven door den heere Robert Smith. Amsterdam: I. Tirion, 1753.
2v. (, 488 p., 61 plates; , 489-778,  p., 23 plates; 26 cm. (4to)
A Dutch translation of the standard eighteenth century text on the physics of light, grinding and polishing lenses, the construction of optical instruments, and the history of telescopic discoveries. Smith’s System was also translated into German and French.
347 Soemmerring, Detmar Wilhelm, 1793-1871.
An extract of Detmar Wilhelm Soemmerring’s thesis: a comment on the horizontal section of eyes in man and animals. Edited by S. Ry Andersen and Ole Munk. Translated by H. D. Schepelern. Copenhagen: s.n., 1971.
76,  p.: ill.; 25 cm.
Translation and facsimile of portions of the author’s doctoral dissertation, one of the first systematic studies of the comparative anatomy of the vertebrate eye. The first edition of this dissertation (1818) is in the Becker Library’s General Rare Book Collection. The author was the son of the distinguished anatomist and ophthalmologist S. T. von Soemmerring (348, 349). “This volume is also published as Supplementum No. ll0 of Acta ophthalmologica (Kbh.)” (colophon).
Soemmerring, Samuel Thomas, 1755-1830, praeses.
See Noethig (273.2).
348 Soemmerring, Samuel Thomas, 1755-1830.
Abbildungen des menschlichen Auges. Frankfurt am Main: Varrentrapp & Wenner, 1801.
x, 110 p., 16 plates; 40 cm. (fol.)
“Soemmerring is best remembered for his fine anatomical illustrations, of which those devoted to the human eye are a good example” (G-M 1489). Ludwig Choulant declared this book “Soemmerring’s most perfect work” which with Zinn’s monograph (426) formed the basis for all modern research on the structure of the eye.
G-M 1489; Hirschberg §464.
349 Soemmerring, Samuel Thomas, 1755-1830.
Icones oculi humani. Frankfurt am Main: Varrentrapp & Wenner, 1804.
viii, 94 p., 16 plates; 40 cm. (fol.)
The Latin edition of Soemmerring’s great anatomical atlas was translated by Bernhard Nathanael Gottlob Schreger (1766-1825). The plates for this edition were taken from the copperplate engravings based on Koeck’s drawings which appeared in the original German edition of 1801 (348). “In preparing the drawings Soemmerring was less concerned with correct perspective than with the architectonically correct representation of the material” (DicSciBio 12:510). The work was faulted by contemporary English reviewers only for its great expense.
DicSciBio 12:510; Hirschberg §464; Waller 9046.
Soemmerring, Samuel Thomas, 1755-1830.
See Demours, A. P. (96).
Sommariva, Cæsareus, ed.
See Rampinelli (309.2).
See Plenk (300).
Soranus, of Ephesus, fl. 2nd cent.
See Aetius, of Amida (5).
350 Sous, Gustave, b. 1832.
Traité d’optique considérée dans ses rapports avec l’examen de l’oeil. . . . Deuxième édition revue et augmentée. Paris: Octave Doin, 1881.
xvi, 512 p.: ill.; 23 cm.
A fundamental treatise on optics and ophthalmoscopic examination. First edition, Paris, 1879.
Spalding, James Alfred, b. 1846, trans.
See Mauthner (252).