Table Of Contentby Susan H. Gray
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
Published in the United States of America by Cherry Lake Publishing
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.cherrylakepublishing.com
Content Adviser: Noshene Ranjbar, MD
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Copyright ©2009 by Cherry Lake Publishing
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means
without written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Gray, Susan H., 1954–
Vision / by Susan H. Gray.
p. cm.—(Innovation in medicine)
Includes index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-60279-226-5
ISBN-10: 1-60279-226-7
1. Vision disorders—Treatment—Technological innovations—Juvenile
literature. 2. Vision—Juvenile literature. 3. Ophthalmic
lenses—History—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
RE91.G63 2009
617.7—dc22 2008006753
Cherry Lake Publishing would like to acknowledge the work of
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
Please visitwww.21stcenturyskills.org for more information.
ChapterOne
“The Most Divine Organ” 4
ChapterTwo
One Man’s Vision 10
ChapterThree
More Innovations 15
Chapter Four
A Vision of the Future 20
Chapter Five
Innovation for 25 Centuries 23
Glossary 30
For MoreInformation 31
Index 32
About theAuthor 32
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
4
CHAPTER ONE
“Mrs. Jones, you need to write bigger.
I can’t see what you wrote on the
board!” complained Stephanie.
“Are you blind?” shouted Jimmy
from the back of the room.
“Jimmy! That was rude!” scolded
Mrs. Jones. “You should apologize
to Stephanie.”
Then she turned to Stephanie.
“And you need to put on your
glasses,” she said with a smile.
“But Mrs. Jones, I hate these
glasses,” replied Stephanie.
“You’re lucky you have eyeglasses
to help you see better,” said Mrs.
Jones. “Imagine what your life would
Many people of all ages wear eyeglasses to be like if you lived a thousand years
improve their vision.
Vision
“The Most Divine Organ” 5
ago, before eyeglasses were invented. Back then, no one
knew much about eyes and how they worked.”
“Oh no!” groaned Jimmy, rolling his eyes. “I feel a
lecture coming on!”
The class laughed as Mrs. Jones began telling them
more about how eyeglasses were invented.
(cid:58)(cid:0)(cid:58)(cid:0)(cid:58)
M
ore than 1,800 years ago, the Greek doctor
Galen studied the human eye. He was impressed with
its incredible abilities and called it “the most divine
organ.” But he was not the first scientist to examine the
remarkable anatomy of the eye. What interested other
scientists studying the eye? And what early innovations in
medicine did those interests lead to?
Susruta was a famed surgeon in India. He described
eye operations more than 600 years before Galen lived.
He also described a number of surgical instruments and
more than 70 different diseases of the eye.
Nearsightedness and farsightedness were two
eye problems known to the ancients. Those who are
nearsighted see only nearby objects clearly. Farsighted
people can see faraway objects better. The Roman emperor
Nero may have been nearsighted. Some say he held a green
crystal up to his eyes to help him see gladiators in combat.
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
6
In the 1200s, a brilliant English monk named Roger
Bacon studied physics, math, Latin, and Greek. He wrote
of the wonderful qualities of crystals. Bacon described
how crystals in nature and human-made glass could help
those with poor eyesight. If the glass had a particular
shape, he wrote, it could magnify objects. When looking
through such glass, “a boy can appear a giant, a man seem
a mountain.”
So how did innovators use this knowledge of crystals
and glass? They invented eyeglasses! People in Europe
were using spectacles by the end of the 1200s. About this
time, the explorer Marco Polo returned from China and
reported that the Chinese were wearing them, too.
Spectacles of this time were not worn as they are
today. Instead, they consisted of crystals or glass pieces
set into metal or leather frames. These frames did not
have pieces on the sides that extended to the ears. The
spectacles stayed in place by resting on top of the nose
and pinching it.
Over the next 400 years, the lenses in spectacles
did not improve much. The next big advance was the
invention of eyeglasses with divided lenses, or bifocals.
The top part of the lens helps the wearer see distant objects,
and the bottom part helps the wearer see nearby objects.
No one is certain who invented bifocals, but many
credit American statesman Benjamin Franklin. Franklin
Vision
7
Many people believe that Benjamin Franklin
invented glasses with divided lenses, or bifocals.
told a friend that he was constantly shifting between two
pairs of glasses—one for reading and one for seeing in
the distance. Tired of having to switch glasses, he wrote,
“I had the glasses cut and half of each kind associated in
the same circle.” Franklin was pleased because he could
now wear one pair of glasses. He simply rolled his eyes up
or down to see through the different lenses.
The next innovation for improved vision came
from Switzerland. In 1888, Adolph Eugen Fick created
contact lenses. They were glass with smoothed edges and
covered the entire front of the eye. After testing them on
himself, Fick wrote that his lenses could sharpen vision.
INNOVATION IN MEDICINE
8
He also suggested that people with eyes discolored by
disease could benefit from these lenses. He said they
could have a colored iris and black pupil painted on
each one!
Not all of the advances in vision care have been in
glasses and contact lenses. Some innovations involved
the creation of new instruments to study the eye. Other
innovations were in eye surgery.
Scientists had been familiar with the anatomy of
the eye for centuries. They closely examined the eyes of
human beings and animals and identified the parts.
The iris is the colored part of the eye. It surrounds
a round hole called the pupil. A lens sits just behind the
A doctor uses an ophthalmoscope to check her
patient’s eyes.
Vision
