Abstract
THE January issue of the Annals of Medical Historycontains an interesting account, accompanied by numerous illustrations, of the ancient origins of artificial eyes by Dr. Gordon M. Bruce, of New York. The earliest artificial eyes about which there is definite information were made in Egypt for the adornment of mummies, mummy masks and statues, of which many varieties are to be seen in museums. Artificial eyes have also been found in Aztec and Inca mummies, as well as in mummified specimens from Darnley Island in the Torres Strait and the Solomon Islands. The ancient Syrians were familiar with the use of artificial eyes, as is shown by a specimen in the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The existence of artificial eyes in Babylonian times has recently been proved by the discovery of a cuneiform inscription of about 1600 B.C., in which 22 artificial eyes, 9 of agate and 13 of chalcedony, are mentioned. In ancient Greece statues were often provided with artificial eyes, Pheidias's statue of Athena being a celebrated example. In ancient Rome the faber ocularius,or maker of artificial eyes, existed as well as the medicus ocularius,who was a favourite subject for contemporary satirists, especially Martial. There is no definite description of artificial eyes to replace those lost by disease or accident before the middle of the sixteenth century, when they are mentioned by Ambroise Pare, but, as Dr. Bruce points out, the terms in which he speaks of them do not indicate that they were an innovation at that time.
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History of Artificial Eyes. Nature 145, 546–547 (1940). https://doi.org/10.1038/145546d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/145546d0