Most ophthalmologists readily recognize woodcuts from George Bartisch's Ophthalmodouleia, which was published in 1583. Many in
our specialty may be unaware, however, that Donald L. Blanchard has translated
the text of Ophthalmodouleia from the Early New High
German into English, and that this magnificent work was published by J. P.
Wayenborgh in 1996 as part of the Julius Hirschberg History of Ophthalmology
series. The subject of this review is another valuable contribution by Dr
Blanchard to ophthalmic history, a translation of Bartisch's slender monograph
on theriac, the "wonder drug" of its era.