Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1977

LOUIS DE WECKER (1832-1906) Traité des maladies du fond de l'oeil et atlas d'ophthalmoscopie. Adrien Delahaye; Vienna: Imprimerie impériale et royale 1870 xvi, 208, vi, 231 pp., 29 col. plates, 89 illus. 26.2 cm.

Along with Fuchs' famous work on ophthalmology (see No. 2141), this work by Wecker was the most noteworthy ophthalmological treatise published during the waning years of the nineteenth century. The primary reason is Wecker's use of the new Helmholtz ophthalmoscope (see No. 1886) in this study devoted entirely to the optic fundus and its diseases. Wecker, born at Frankfurt am Main, studied medicine at Würzburg, Berlin, Vienna, and Paris, taking degrees at both Würzburg and Paris. He ultimately came to Paris where he made significant contributions to the advancement of ophthalmology by introducing the ophthalmoscope, developing new surgical techniques, and inventing new instruments for operative surgery. In this treatise he has collaborated with Jaeger, professor of ophthalmology at Vienna, who developed an early form of today's familiar eye chart for testing visual acuity. In the work extensive consideration is given to the cornea, lens and vitreous body, the optic nerve, the retina, and the choroid plexus, in both their normal and pathological states. Jaeger, who created superior illustrations with the aid of the newly developed ophthalmoscope, gave Wecker permission to add twenty-nine of his plates to the book. The plates were all drawn and hand-colored by Jaeger and, except for the extra clarity and fine detail of modern color photography, are just as accurate and vivid.

See Related Record(s): 2141 1886

Gift of John Martin, M.D.