This article is only available in the PDF format. Download the PDF to view the article, as well as its associated figures and tables.
With the appearance of this sixth volume of the projected eleven-volume English translation of Hirschberg's Geschicte der Augenheilkunde, the halfway point has been passed in the publication of this series. The present volume continues with the history of German ophthalmology in the first half of the 19th century. Discussion of this topic began midway through the fifth volume with sections on ophthalmology at the Universities of Göttingen and Berlin.
At the conclusion of the sixth volume, Hirschberg writes: This covers the activities of the German ophthalmologists between 1800 and 1850. I have tried to be as complete and as precise as possible. This may have appeared to be sometimes too extensive, but we cannot shy away from the obligation to be as equitable and as just as possible.
Hirschberg's concept of "completeness" and "precision" exceeds that of any current medical historians. To most modern readers, the profusion of facts, dates,