Egon Alzner (Bad Dürrnberg):
Wilhelm Werneck (1787–1842), Military Physician, Ophthalmologist and Scientist – Fallen into Oblivion

After his medical education in Pavia Wilhelm Wernek served in the Austrian Army from 1809 to 1832. In 1810 to 1812 he studied Ophthalmology as a fellow of Schmidt and Beer in Vienna. In 1825 he established a private Eyeclinic in Salzburg. Almost all of his scientific work has been lost over the years, some of his findings haven’t been published at all. He was maybe the first seeing the contagiosity of trachoma – decades before it became common knowledge. His microscopic studies not only on human and mammalian eye tissue, also on the eyes of birds, amphibian and fishes can be seen as a first step to ophthalmic histology. 115 years earlier than Meyer-Schwickerath he described coagulation treatment oft the eye. Although he is buried on Sebastian’s cemetery in Salzburg, the memory of him faded away in the local history of Salzburg.

Dr. med. univ. Egon Alzner, EMCO-Privatklinik, Prof. Martin Hell Str. 7-9, 5422 Bad Dürrnberg, Austria

Back

 

Franz Daxecker (Innsbruck):
Medicinal Herbs in Ophthalmology in: Viennese Dioscurides, Medicina antiqua and Macer

Medicinal herbs in the Viennese Dioscurides (1st c.), the Macer floridus (11th c.) and the Medicina antiqua (13th c.) were compared and show numerous correspondences. In Viennese Dioskurides are 17, in Medicina antiqua 20 and in Macer floridus 34 herbs described.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. univ. Franz Daxecker, Gufeltalweg 9a, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria

Back

Jörg Draeger (Hamburg):
The Importance of Ophthalmology for Navigation in History

Background: Even in antiquity navigation was of great importance, for trade fishery and war. In the beginning orientation used objects along the coast line, soon also stars. Of course, these needed high visual acuity of the captain, soon light houses were erected, served as navigational marks.

Methods: Description of development of these means of orientation from antiquity to modern times is our task.

Results: But there was not only a navigational mark but also a required visual acuity, visual field, color vision and dark adaptation. This relatively early led to the definition of requirements for being admitted as captain, as well for national and international groups.

Prof. Dr. med. Jörg Draeger, Univ.-Augenklinik, Martinistr. 52, 20246 Hamburg, Germany

Back

Albert Franceschetti (Meyrin):
Switzerland, Feminism and Medical Studies

It is surprising that Switzerland, a very traditional country, played such an important role at the end of the 19th century in the appearance of female students in medicine. It is worth remembering that women were barred from voting and participating in political life at the federal level until 1971 and that equality between the sexes was granted in the constitution only in 1981.
The reasons for such an unusual role were manyfold and both external and internal. Exceptionally gifted female students, often Jewish, coming from Russia, political feuds in Switzerland, opposing conservative to revolutionary forces (the Radical in Geneva), financial interest, etc.
More than a century later, girls studying medicine are more numerous than boys. The fact, satisfactory from the viewpoint of equality, may have severe consequences on physicians' income and the quality of medical care in Switzerland as many female doctors work part time, their first allegiance being their family, and are willing to accept lower salaries.

Dr. Albert Franceschetti, Professor Franceschetti Stiftung, 1, av. J.-D. Maillard, 1217 Meyrin, Switzerland

Back

 

Robert F. Heitz (Strasbourg):
The Strange Glance of certain Eyes of Old Egyptian Statues

The eyes of certain statues of Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2345-2181 B.C.) have the strange property to follow with their glance the movements of the observer.
The analysis of these eyes explains the optical mechanisms of this unique phenomenon in the history of art.

Dr. med. Dr. phil. Robert F. Heitz, 23 A, rue Trubner, 67000 Strasbourg, France

Back

Aloys Henning
The Importance of 17th Century’s Privileged Oculists and Surgeons

At the JHG-Convention XXII in Halle/Saale 2006 for the first time an oculists’ network of a protestant dutch refugee from medieval nobility and his descendants was reported on. In the 17th century imperially and electorally privileged, they overtook oculistic and surgical services and education not only in Saxony and Brandenburg. Meanwhile by research 23 oculists were detected as documented for that time in both territories. Nine of them had got imperial privileges, and twelve were electorally privileged: ten by Saxony, seven by Brandenburg, one by Cologne and another one by Mayence; some have got several privileges by different electorates. The country- or imperiumwide permissions to practize as oculists and surgeons correspond to their itinerant practice with respect to their widespread patients by poor populations, especially during the Thirty Years’ War. The privileged oculists’ and surgeons’ additional title of personal physician („Leibarzt“ – physician ordinary to …) seems to indicate an obligation to serve their privileging authorities as medical specialists on demand – in contrast to salaried court oculists, rare at the time, as Georg Bartisch 1590 in Dresden and the Brandenburger Johann Dietrich Schertling 1667 at Königsberg and Moscow in 1676, followed by Dr. med. et chir. Joseph Viviani at the Prussian residence 1696.

Dr. med. Aloys Henning, Spandauer Straße 104 K, 13591 Berlin, Germany

Back

Jutta Herde (Halle):
Julius Jacobson – Overcoming the State of Emergency of the Prussian Culture

Julius Jacobson (18th Aug 1828 – 14th Sept 1889) was the son of a well known, musically talented physician and an opera singer from the archduchy of Saxony - Weimar, Hermine Haller. He remained faithful to his place of birth Königsberg (Kaliningrad). After finishing school and graduating from university with a doctorate in medicine in 1853/54 he fulfilled his wish and started to work with A. v. Graefe. The 3-4 months spent with his worshipped idol as well as a surgical course with Ferdinand v. Arlt in Prague impacted his medical skills and his principles forever. Science was to serve mankind and was not a means to achieve. In 1854 Jacobson started to work in Königsberg as a general practitioner, surgeon and mainly as an ophthalmologist. The experience he gained during his work as a charity doctor greatly influenced his medical practice. His successful habilitation in 1858 was the beginning not only of his career but also of the struggle for a separate chair of ophthalmology. First, he adapted 2 beds in his own house for surgical patients, later he rented a small house thanks to a donation from a patient. 2 rooms in a morgue of the pathology institute were unacceptable. Jacobson worked in the clinic, taught, conducted research tirelessly. He was very disappointed by the first meeting of the Ophthalmological Society in Heidelberg in 1863 where money was discussed more than cataracts or glaucoma. He fought for truth in science and ophthalmology relentlessly, making a lot of enemies. He accepted and trusted only a few: v. Graefe, v. Arlt, v. Hippel, Borbe, Annuske, Javal. He defended and supported Graefe's theories and accomplishments until his death. In 1868 he published his famous work "Ophthalmology at Prussian Universities, a state of emergency" in 1869 and 1872 "A way to reform university teaching." In 1872 he was awarded the professor title and the chair of ophthalmolgy, a triumph over all Prussian universities, an honour v. Graefe never managed. He achieved his goal when a new clinic was built. v. Graefe's desire to have Jacobson as his successor was not fulfilled when Jacobson couldn't finance the clinic. Graefe's professorship was cancelled and Jacobson himself had doubts whether he could live up to Graefe. He considered Graefe's duties colossal. Thanks to his quills we have numerous scientific papers. Jacobson was one of the greatest German ophthalmologists of the nineteenth century.

Prof. Dr. med. Jutta Herde, A. Schweitzer-Str. 16, 06114 Halle/Saale, Germany

Back

Gerhard Holland (Kiel):
The Physician and Statesman Johann Friedrich Struensee and his Contribution to Ophthalmology

Struensee was born in 1737 as son of a Pietist pastor in Halle. After visiting the school of the Foundations of Francke he studied medicine at the university of Halle from 1752–1757. In 1757 his father became main pastor of Altona, at that time a Danish town. Struensee followed his father and became at only twenty years of age Stadtphysikus (physician) of Altona. In 1768 he accompanied the Danish King Christian VII as physician on his trip to England and France and after returning he became his private physician. Struensee gained the trust of the mentally weak king and more and more political influence in Kopenhagen. In 1771 he became secret minister of the cabinett and thus almost absolute powers. He issued nearly 1800 decrees in the sense of the Enlightement. However these innovations and his affair with Queen Caroline-Mathilde brought him many enemies, especially in the nobility. In 1772 he was arrested and executed.
During the ten years of his work as physician in Altona Struensee was journalistically active in nearly all fields of medicine. He wrote against superstition and charlatanism, supported the small pox vaccination, detected the cause of foot-and-mouth disease and in 1763 published his important work "Von der neuen Methode den Staar zu operieren". Already a few years after Daviel’s publication he exactly described the new method, operated the cataract in the same way and recommended atropine for widening the pupil in cataract-operation. Furthermore he saw the connection between the infection of the birthcanal of the mother and the Conjunctivitis of the new-born child, which at that time was often followed by blindness.

Prof. Dr. med. Gerhard Holland, Esmarchstraße 51, 24105 Kiel, Germany

Back

Manfred Jähne (Aue):
Samuel Theodor Quelmalz (1696–1758) and the Ophthalmia Neonatorum

Julius Hirschberg dedicated in his 3rd book “History of Ophthalmology in the modern times” five pages in the chapter § 420 “Samuel Theodor Quelmalz and the suppuration of eyes in new-born children”. It seems tempting to search after on the occasion of the 250th year of death of S. Th. Quelmalz (written Quellmaltz too): Who was Quelmalz (S Th Q), which is the history of the treatment and finally the prevention of ophthalmia neonatorum?
S Th Q was born in the important Saxon mining town Freiberg in 1696. He studied science of medicine and philosophy in Leipzig and Wittenberg. Successively he became a professor of anatomy, physiology, treatment in Leipzig from 1737, and he was the dean of the faculty of medicine from 1757 until to his death in 1758.
His most important medical performance is an academic paper in the year 1750. S Th Q described first in the medical world literature with his publication the suppuration of eyes in new-born children and he demonstrated as cause the suppuration of the vagina of the bearing mother, respectively the initial gonorrhea of the father.
This monograph of S Th Q was way ahead of its time in an era before bacteriology and found no contemporary medical notice.
The name “ophthalmia neonatorum” (o.n.) was created by the famous physician from Halle, Johann Christian Reil (1759–1813), in 1798. Johann Christian Juengken (1793–1875) got an inaugural dissertation on this subject in Berlin.
For the first time Carl Ferdinand von Graefe (1787–1840) introduced a watery solution of lapis lazuli than argentum nitricum fusum in the treatment of o.n. Son Albrecht von Graefe (1828–1870) continued this treatment and his cousin Albrecht Graefe (1830–1899) commended this treatment beside own experiences too.
130 years after the publication of S Th Q the professor of obstetrics in Leipzig, Carl Sigmund Franz Credé (1819–1892), moved an important step and put the prevention of each new-born child in the foreground instead of the earlier treatment of diseased new-born children. Credé instilled all of the new-born children in each eye a 2% solution of argentum nitricum since the 1st of June 1880 – the present people celebrates this date as the International Children Day. Credé saw only a single infection in 200 births, at last this child was not dropped!.
About a tenth of new-born children grew blind through an o.n. before the era of Credé prevention. For 20% of the inhabitants of homes for blind people was the reason for blindness the o.n. Nurse and physician were strongly dangered in the stadium of infiltration. So Friedrich Philipp Ritterich (1820–1890), the first extraordinary professor for Ophthalmolgy in Leipzig, grew blind.
A precious description with a water-colour drawing of the ophthalmia neonatorum, published by Otto Haab (1850–1931) in 1899, rounds off this lecture.

MedR PD Dr. med. habil. Manfred Jähne, Seminarstraße 22e, 08289 Schneeberg, Germany

Back

Guido Kluxen (Wermelskirchen):
Armauer Hansen (1841–1912) and ocular leprosy, the material was stained too weak

In 1868 Gerhard Henrik Armauer Hansen began to study leprosy and so he did in all his later times. He travelled Bonn Vienna to gain the training necessary for him to prove his hypothesis that leprosy was a specific disease with a specific cause. In 1873 he took part in the first publication of a work on ocular leprosy with the Ophthalmologist Ole Bull. It was in yellowish granular masses of lymph nodes from leprosy and in other leprous organs as in ocular tissues that he found the rod-shaped structures (unstained or weak stained) which led him to his discovery of the leprosy bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, sometimes called Hansen’s bacillus. Most of his colleagues and physicians elsewhere laughed. Hansen, they said, may have seen these bodies in tissues, but it did not mean they caused disease. But it did.
Hansen tried to stain his bacillus employing the new methods of Weigert and Koch. While he was carrying out these investigations he was visited by the German bacteriologist Albert Neisser in 1879, then 24 years old and a pupil of Robert Koch. Hansen demonstrated to him his rod-shaped bodies and hoped that Neisser could help him with a successful stain, but Neisser also failed. However, it leads one to suppose that Neisser, with Hansen in Bergen, stained the material intentionally too weak. When he left Bergen, he was provided with a large amount of leprous material, and on returning to Breslau he succeeded in staining the bacilli. Neisser did not hesitate to publish his results, without first contacting Hansen.

Prof. Dr. med. Guido Kluxen, Brückenweg 1, 42929 Wermelskirchen, Germany

Back

Frank Krogmann (Thüngersheim):
Karl David Lindner (1883–1961) – In Salzburg he found his end

Karl (= Charles) David Lindner was born in Vienna. He studied medicine in Vienna and Paris and started his education as an ophthalmologist 1908 at the 2nd University-Eye Hospital under the direction of Hofrat Prof. Dr. Ernst Fuchs. He got for his contribution to discover the trachom-pathogen from the German Ophthalmological Society an award. 1916 he became university lecturer, 1924 director of Vienna Eye-Policlinic and 1927 he was appointed the director of the 2nd University-Eye-Hospital in Vienna. He followed in this position Friedrich Dimmer. Lindner was the head of his clinic during the time of Austria’s connection to the German Empire and of world-war 1939/45. His glaucoma-disease, which he hid before his family, will be also mentioned in the lecture. He died suddenly 1961 in Salzburg during a lecture of the Austrian Opthalmological Society speaking to his colleagues, friends and pupils.

Frank Krogmann, Kirchgasse 6, 97291 Thüngersheim, Germany

Back

Gisela Kuntzsch-Kullin (Braunschweig):
Artists with Color Vision Deficit and Painting

Congenital color Vision deficit (in literature also known as achromatic vision, color anomaly or color blindness) is a heriditary recessive, sex-linked defect. 8% of males and 0.4% of women are concerned. Dichromatic anomalies and in particular red-green anomalies are most frequent. There are two different manifestations: protanopia and deuteranopia. In case of protanopia the spectrum at the end of the long waves is considerably shorter, the protanope suffers of red-blindness. The deuteranope is green-blind. Both of them confound red and green, that is they do not see both colors in a normal way, because their color System consists only of two instead of three color components. A reduced form of this anomaly is the protanomaly (red color weakness) and the deuteranomaly (green color weakness). Such individuals (anomalous trichromates) confound red and green under unfavourable conditions.
The british chemist Dalton described in 1794 the red-green-blindness for the first time of which he himself suffered and which was called later on Daltonism. Almost at the same time Goethe studied chromatics, and later on the possible influence of the color anomaly on painting.
1978 the well known ophthalmologist Wolfgang Münchow, examined 342
artists in the city of Dresden and found 31 red-green blind, the same proportion as in the common population.
The question: can a color anomaly of an artist be combined with painting, can be confirmed after profound studies of literature and art.
Congenital color vision deficit and talent for painting can exist independently, but do not exclude from each other. In which way and under which circumstances painters with color blindness are able to see and work will be explained in the lecture. Attempts of compensation, possibilities of assistance and tactics of recognition will be treated carefully, because all of them have difficulties in using and distinguishing of red and green.
The reason for the author to engage in this subject was a visit to a little regional museum in Ballenstedt/Harz where beautiful paintings of the local court painter Wilhelm v. Kügelgen were exposed. In an art book obtained in the museum, the author learned of the red-green deficiency of the artist. In the case of Kügelgen and other painters with color anomaly the contemporaries learned only after their death of their color blindness. This was because on the one hand it was an embarrassing deficiency and was therefore kept secret, and on the other hand that the ophthalmologist was bound to professional discretion.
In the contribution the curriculum vitae of W. v. Kügelgen will be described (1802–1867), but also on other artists with color anomaly will be reported. Descriptions of the destinies of different artists will follow, such as Georg Einbeck (Pole, 1871–1951), Florimond van Loo (Belgian 1823–?), Joseph Achten (Austrian 1822–1867), Paul Manship (American 1885–1965), Charles Meryon (French 1851–1868) and Paul Henry (Irishman 1876–1958).
Artists such as Seurat, Whistler, Leger, Sisley, Constable and Turner were said to be color blind which was revoked because the artists used the limited color palette intentionally as a stylistic form for ornamental purposes, and finally the color vision of the artists was not examined.
Today the observers of paintings consider deviations of color compositions as provocative purpose. The possibility can not be excluded that among the contemporary artists may be some color blind painters, who want to impose us their "view of the world".

Dr. med. Gisela Kuntzsch-Kullin, Wilhelmitorwall 11, 38118 Braunschweig, Germany

Back

Erik Linnér (Göteborg):
Carl von Linné about the Eye and ist Diseases

Carl von Linné (1707–1778) is indeed a most fascinating personality even 300 years after his birth in a vicarage in the South of Sweden. For most people he is remembered for his binary botanical classification system, but he had a universal interest in all living species including human beings and classified them in the same way.
Fredrik Berg, professor emeritus of ophthalmology at Uppsala University, studied the older history of ophthalmology in Sweden and Carl von Linné was one of the subjects in his research. My report is based on his work and this abstract contains a few examples. In the medical field Linné gave very well-attended lectures in dietetics and pathology, and some ophthalmological matters were also included. He considered the system of vision to be the most valuable gift of the Providence, and vision was the foremost of our senses. About colours he expressed the opinion that green was the most splendid one, whereas white made the eyes feeble and weak. Artificial light is not favourable for the eyes not only for smiths and glassblowers but also for schoolboys, who are making their homework at open fire. During his travel to Lapland he observed that the Lapps were suffering from weak eyes. He classified their eye disease as amblyopia lapponica. After an uprising in a province of Sweden in 1743 the rebels were imprisoned and given porridge only but no fat. They were reported to get nearly blind. Linné was convinced that it is essential to eat some form of fat, otherwise the eyes are getting weak. Berg considered these eye symptoms to be caused by a deficiency of vitamin A.

Prof. Dr. med. Erik Linnér, Lilla Danska vägen 6, SE 412 74 Göteborg, Sweden

Back

Norman B. Medow (New York):
The Evolution of Cataract Surgery in Children

Introduction and Historical Approach: Much is known about the history of cataract surgery in adults but little history has been collated on pediatric cataract surgery. Using books and articles written primarily from the 18th and 20th century a clear idea has been gathered about cataract surgery in children.
Body of Paper: No mention of cataract surgery in children is found in the writings of Susruta, Galen, Bartish, Paré or Beer. The first discussion of Children’s cataract surgery begins in the early to mid-19th century and coincides with the development of anesthesia —most probably the significant reason that pediatric cataract surgery had not been written about before. Much controversy existed along the way as to the timing of cataract surgery in children. Operate early, operate late or … do not operate at all. This paper will review these controversies and bring us to the present, when controversy has not been eliminated. When to operate, early or late, and what to do — implant or no implant.

Norman B. Medow, 225 East 64th Street, New York, N.Y. 10065, USA

Back

Fraser Muirhead (Tiburon CA):
„Ein wandernder Flecken der Hornhaut“

In 1834 James Wardrup wrote in his book “The Morbid Anatomy of the Human Eye, Second Edition, Volume One, pp. 71–23, 1834”, a short English translation of an article that had earlier appeared in a German language journal. In his version Wardrup wrote, „Manniske of Frankenhausen mentions a curious instance, where a foreign body, which stuck on the conjunctiva… advanced to the central part of the cornea.” „I made an incision… and saw with the assistance of a microscope, a black body lying in the incision. I removed it with the point of the knife… and found it to be the wing case of a beetle.”
I came across this English translation about twenty years ago and obtained a copy of the original article. This original article, published in 1798, was titled, „Ein wandernder Flecken der Hornhaut, welcher von der Flügeldecke eines Käfers entstanden war“. The author, listed as D. Manniske described how he had removed a corneal foreign body from a parson’s eye. He wrote he had used a „Handmicroscop“ to inspect the incision he had made.
Who was this unknown doctor, D. Manniske? Where did he live? And how, in pre-anesthetic days, was he able to do such a procedure? What kind of a microscope was he able to use? What else had he done in his life? I found nothing about him in the usual published references.
Only after the internet became available did I find much about him. His name was Wilhelm August Gottlieb Manniske, the D. was an abbreviation of doctor. He was born, lived and died in Frankenhausen from 1769 to 1835, then in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. He was a general doctor, not an ophthalmologist,
I have visited Bad Frankenhausen (as Frankenhausen is now known), seen his home, his office, and the building that housed his original hospital. I visited as well as the modern hospital that bears his name.
In my presentation I describe his life and his city. Although he lived in a very small city, he was a very progresive doctor. He followed all the latest medico-scientific advances. He wrote on digitalis and on obstetric forceps. He instigated local cowpox immunization. The charity hospital he founded has evolved into a very modern establishment. He also founded a spa. This, too, still exists. I discuss how he might have done the operation. Though his description is good, we cannot know exactly what happened. The type of microscope he used is also uncertain. I offer some likely possibilities.
Although Manniske was a general doctor, at the end of the 18th century he had seen the need for better visualization in eye surgery. Some 90 years before Zehender used his new „binokulare Cornea-loupe” to do eye surgery and 80 years before Sämisch described his own loupe, Manniske attempted, using the technology of his time, to meet this need. Although he used his small „Handmikroskop“ solely to inspect the wound he had already made, should we not recognize that he did something fully new and should we not recognize him for his contribution? Such an interesting man!

Fraser Muirhead, MD FRCS(C), 4200 Paradise Drive, Tiburon, CA 94920, USA

Back

Hans Remky (München):
Thalamus Haemorrhage and Disturbance of the Visual Field

The frequency of intravital detection of thalamus haemorrhage increased with the improvement of non-invasive methods.
The scale of subjective clinical Symptoms reaches the limits of perception.
After a left-sided thalamus haemorrhage a 85-years-old man repeatedly noticed a disturbance of short duration of his right visual field: The centre appeared “sizzling” like the surface of cooking water and “melted”. Through the resulting “hole” a small part of the same visual field was seen but reduced in size by some percents of the original one. Distinguishing by stronger colouring this “second” image appeared some centimetres deeper in space, but was similar to the original. These phenomena were observed by an ophthalmologist experienced with problems of the pathophysiology.

Univ.-Prof. Dr. med. Hans Remky, Biedersteinerstr. 57, 80802 München, Germany

Back

Matthias R. Sachsenweger (Landshut):

Rudolf Sachsenweger – University Chairman and his Conflict with the Communist State

Rudolf Sachsenweger was born on February 29, 1916 in Nahlendorf in the former Prussian province Saxony as son of the teacher and cantor Hugo Sachsenweger. After finishing High school with best grades in Weißenfels he attached the school for teachers “Lehrbildungsanstalt” in Lauenburg, where he graduated in 1937 with excellence. Thereafter the studied history, middle German language, psychology and philosophy until he was drafted by the army in 1938.
He spent the Second World War as a soldier in different places at the front, and allowed to study medicine between 1941 and 1943 in Jena and Rostock. Thereafter he returned to the eastern front as “Feldunterarzt”. From 1945 to 1949 he was a prisoner of war in Estonia, but could then continue his studies and graduate with top grades in 1951. He did his residency in ophthalmology in Halle and took his exam as an ophthalmologist in 1955. One year later he finished his “Habilitation” thesis.
In 1958 he succeeded Karl Velhagen as chairman of Ophthalmology at the University of Leipzig, where he was scientifically active and reached international recognition until his “Emeritierung” in 1981. Overall he publicized more then 200 articles and 50 book titles. In 1961 he was chosen to become a member of a Gonin-Club. Shortly thereafter he becams a honorary member of the Academy in Barcelona, member of the board of directors of the International Strabological Association, European Strabismological Association and Glaucoma Society. Since 1960 he was member of the Société Francophone d´Ophtalmologie, since 1972 member of Leopoldina, 1979 honory member of DOG.
In 1980 he was elected as president of the EOC for 4 years, doubtless the peak of his professional life. In 1967 he was awarded the Albrecht-von-Graefe-price. On his 80th birthday in 1996 he received an honorary doctorship of the University Leipzig. 
In the GDR he never permitted being instrumentalized politically, he never was a member of the SED or the state security apparatus. His world conservative political beliefs brought him disadvantages and problems in the GDR.

Prof. Dr. med. Matthias R. Sachsenweger, Veldener Str. 16a, 84036 Landshut, Germany

Back

Dieter Schmidt (Freiburg):
Charles L. Schepens (1912–2006), Inventor of the Binocular Indirect Ophthalmoscope and Promoter of Modern Retinal Surgery

Charles Schepens was born in Mouscron, Belgium. He was the youngest of six children. His father was a general practitioner. Charles Schepens studied medicine in Belgium and became a physician like three of his elder brothers. At the age of 30 – as a member of the Resistance against nazism – he was forced to take a pseudonym. He acquired an abandoned sawmill in Mendive in the French Pyrénées and lived there with his family. He was hunted by the Gestapo even in this place; with great strain, Schepens fled at first to Spain and then to England where he resumed his profession as an Ophthalmologist. He worked at the Moorfields Eye Hospital. His first great invention was the creation of the binocular indirect ophthalmoscope which is used routinely throughout the world as the essential instrument to enable modern retinal surgery. In 1947 he emigrated with his family to Boston where he founded the first Retina service at the Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary. He and his excellent team published more than 300 papers and several books. He developed new methods for ocular examinations and techniques for retinal surgery and described several eye diseases, for instance the familial exsudative vitreoretinopathy ("Criswick-Schepens syndrome"). His Retina Department had soon become unique and was one of the greatest in the world. He was founder and first president of the Retina Society and Inaugural Laureat of the American Academy of Ophthalmology. In France, Schepens at the age of 94 was awarded la Légion d`Honneur.

Prof. Dr. med. Dieter Schmidt, Univ.-Augenklinik, Killianstraße 5, 79106 Freiburg, Germany

Back

Gabriela Schmidt-Wyklicky (Wien):
An Ophthalmic-Historical Treasure:
The Collection of Pathologic-Histological Specimens of Ernst Fuchs (1851–1930) in Vienna

The Institute for the History of Medicine at the Medical University of Vienna owns the legendary collection of histological eye specimens of Ernst Fuchs, who was head of the 2nd ophthalmologic university clinic at the Vienna General Hospital from 1885 to 1915. At his lifetime Fuchs was considered one of the most eminent ophthalmic pathologists all over the world. His collection of normal and pathological anatomy of the eye contains about 40.000 histological specimens, which until now have not yet been catalogued. They are preserved in a wooden case, which has been separately constructed for this unique collection, and are closed up in 74 wooden boxes each containing 1.000 specimens at maximum amount.
The origin of this collection goes back to the time, when Fuchs was assistant of Ferdinand von Arlt (1812-1887) at the 1st ophthalmic university clinic in Vienna. In several record books Fuchs made shot-hand notices concerning the patients history, which he numbered according to the histological working up. The first of these notices by Fuchs´ own hand goes back to October 16, 1876. Together with the current number of the histological specimens also the name of the patient, the number of the case, the date when the operation was performed, some details on the case history and the room number of the patient were written down. The name of Ernst Fuchs, who retired in 1915, is mentioned for the last time on October 20, 1919. The histological specimens were not only used for the purpose of clinical documentation, but also for teaching.
In cooperation with the “Fuchs´ foundation for the promotion of ophthalmology” at the ophthalmic university clinic in Salzburg the process of cataloging this - as well as range and quality of conservation are concerned - unique collection has been initiated. Furthermore a comprehensive biography of Ernst Fuchs will be written. At the moment we try to identify in the collection all diseases, which are connected by eponym with Ernst Fuchs. Thereafter relevant specimens will be photographed and associated with the original description of the pathological changes. A selection of diseases of the cornea formerly described by Ernst Fuchs shall illustrate this procedure.

Univ.-Doz. Dr. med. univ. Gabriela Schmidt-Wyklicky, Institut für Geschichte der Medizin der Medizinischen Universität Wien, Währingerstraße 25, 1090 Wien, Austria

Back

Sibylle Scholtz und Gerd U. Auffarth (Heidelberg):
Design or Disease – The Impact of Cataract on the Later Paintings of William Turner

Purpose: William Turner was one of the most famous artists; his paintings inspired generations of painters and viewers. The changes in style of his later paintings can be interpreted as the effect of proceeding cataract. This lecture shows the influence of cataract progression in the work of William Turner.

Methods: Historic critic literature work and comparing Turners paintings for evaluating the influence of cataract in the later art work of William Turner.

Results: As William Turner died at the age of 76 - and as he did not undergo cataract surgery - he suffered from the characteristics of mature cataract finally. The impact of the opacification of the crystalline lens can be brought into close connexion with cataract: Progression in loss of details and changing of colours can be tracked down to progression of cataract.

Conclusions: In the later paintings of William Turner the impact of cataract can easily be observed: Less details and the preference for yellow and brown colours can be seen. As cataract surgery at that time was a dangerous treatment William Turner decided not to undergo this procedure. As he was a very prolific painter we have the chance to observe the progression of the influence of cataract in a great painter’s perception.

Dr. sc. hum. Sibylle Scholtz, Institut für Geschichte der Medizin, sibylle.scholtz@gmx.de
Prof. Dr. med. Gerd-Uwe Auffarth, Universitätsaugenklinik, Universität Heidelberg, Deutschland, gerd_auffarth@med.uni-heidelberg.de

Back

Sabine Veits-Falk (Salzburg):
Hubert Sattler, Rosa and Friedrich Kerschbaumer.
Local Aspects on the History of Ophthalmology in Salzburg

Three disciples of Ferdinand von Arlt were related to the city of Salzburg, the meeting place of the JHG-Congress 2008.
Hubert Sattler (1844–1928) was born in Salzburg. He was the grandson of the painter Johann Michael Sattler, who created the famous panorama of the city of Salzburg and the son of the same-named painter, who was well-known of his cosmoramas of international places. “Sight” played an important role in their family. Hubert Sattler was particularly interested in the organ, the eye. He studied medicine at the University of Vienna, specialized on ophthalmology and became an assistant of Ferdinand von Arlt.
Friedrich Kerschbaumer (1847–1906) followed Sattler`s assistantship and married the only female Arlt-disciple Rosa Kerschbaumer (1851–1923). The couple moved to Salzburg in 1877 and opened a private eye-clinic. In 1890 Rosa Kerschbaumer was granted an imperial decree, which allowed her to practise and to run the hospital in Salzburg. In 1900, when she had already left Salzburg, she published the much-noticed book “The sarcoma of the eye”. It based on her own anatomic collection and the one of “her friend and teacher” Hubert Sattler, who directed the University-Eye-Clinic in Leipzig in the meantime and wrote the preface to her publication.

Mag. Dr. phil. Sabine Veits-Falk, Stadtarchiv Salzburg, Glockengasse 8, 5020 Salzburg, Austria

Back

Gregor Wollensak (Berlin):
The Peasant and Author Franz Michael Felder from Vorarlberg

Franz Michael Felder was born in Schoppernau/Vorarlberg on May 13th 1839 as son of the peasant Jakob Felder and his wife Maria née Moosbrugger. At the age of 6 months his relatives found a haze in his right eye. At the age of 15 months he was therefore taken to the ophthalmologist Josef Wurzer in Ischgl in the Paznaun-valley/Tyrol. Dr. Wurzer was well-known in the region and was born in the village Au closeby. Unfortunately, Wurzer operated on the wrong eye while being drunk causing blindness in Felder´s healthy left eye so that Felder was left with his weak right eye. Later on Felder was taken to the village priest of nearby Schwarzenberg but a miraculous healing did not occur. Despite these setbacks Felder became a good peasant and successful author later in life. He wrote several novels, poems, and an autobiography. The literature professor Ludwig Hildebrand from Leipzig became his mentor. Felder was also active in politics and founded the „Vorarlberg´sche Partei der Gleichberechtigung“, a cheese maker cooperative, a society for the insurance of peasants and in 1867 one of the first public libraries of Austria in Schoppernau. Due to his political activities Felder was not very popular in his village. Especially with the village priest of Schopppernau Johann Georg Rüscher there were several conflicts. Felder had 5 children. In 1868 his wife Anna Katharina née Moosbrugger died at the age of 30. Soon, on April 26th 1869, also Felder himself died from tuberculosis and stroke.

PD Dr. med. Gregor Wollensak, Wildentensteig 4, 14195 Berlin, Germany

---

Back to JHG-Homepage