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Abstract #6275 Published in IGR 2-2
'Glaucoma affecting each crystalline lens': a long-lost manuscript by Dr William Mackenzie
Mansfield D; Beaton J; Bennett HSurvey of Ophthalmology 2000; 44: 527-533
Dr. William Mackenzie was one of the great pioneers of British ophthalmology in the 19th century. The authors present a newly-discovered manuscript in which Mackenzie described how he performed surgery for bilateral nuclear sclerosis of the lens, in 1842-1843. This case became the focus for a discussion of the nature of 'cataract' and 'glaucoma' in the fourth edition of Mackenzie's great work, A practical treatise on diseases of the eye. Mackenzie is generally remembered as a great compiler of knowledge, but the text Mackenzie built around this case shows him pursuing original arguments based on his own observation. This case report gives us a vignette of Mackenzie that illustrates aspects of Mackenzie's character and achievements in an intimate way, and it dramatizes in a lively manner how some of the most fundamental concepts in ophthalmology evolved.
Dr. D. Mansfield, Department of Ophthalmology, Inverclyde Royal Hospital, Greenock PA16 0XN, UK
Classification:
12.12 Cataract extraction (Part of: 12 Surgical treatment)
