Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 732

CHARLES DE SAINT-YVES (1667-1733) Nouveau traité des maladies des yeux, les remedes qui y conviennent, & les operations de chirurgie que leurs guérisons exigent. Chez Pierre-Augustin le Mercier 1722 [29] 373 [33] pp. 16.5 cm.

Major advances in the knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the eye were made during the eighteenth century. This new knowledge, coupled with major strides in the field of optics, had a significant impact on the development of ophthalmology. Fabricius (see No. 365 ff.) had recognized that the lens was immediately behind the iris early in the seventeenth century but it was not until the 1700s that this anatomical fact was accepted by the medical community. French ophthalmologists were leaders in the field during the eighteenth century and also showed that the cataract is a clouding and hardening of the lens and, in addition, were responsible for developing the modern cataract operation. Saint-Yves was born in a small French village near Rocroi and began instruction in medicine and surgery at age seventeen. In 1686, he entered the Maison de Saint-Lazare in Paris and upon graduation, he remained at the Maison de Saint-Lazare, where he specialized in the study, practice, and teaching of ophthalmology. In 1711, he left Saint-Lazare to begin his own eye clinic, which was among the first in Europe to specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of eye diseases. In February, 1707 Saint-Yves had become perhaps the first individual to extract a cataract "en masse" from the human eye. His patient, a merchant from Sedan, suffered from a cataract which had already been dislodged from its normal position against the iris, pushed through the pupil, and was resting in the aqueous humor of the eye's anterior chamber. Saint-Yves slit the cornea and removed the afflicted lens. Although Saint-Yves had taken a major step forward, it was left to his fellow countryman, Jacques Daviel (1696-1762), to later devise a practical operation for extraction of the cataract. Saint-Yves' treatise on diseases of the eye was well-received and by 1750 had been translated into English, German, Dutch, and Italian. A comprehensive work, it includes early descriptions of occlusion therapy for strabismus, silver nitrate therapy for eye diseases, pupil formation in secondary cataract, conjunctivitis angularis, zoster ophthalmicus, and retinal detachment. This copy is authenticated by the author's signature in conformance with a warning against spurious editions that appears in the book.

See Related Record(s): 365 733

Cited references: Garrison-Morton 5827; Waller 8406

Gift of John Martin, M.D.