Posters

William Mackenzie and his work 'a practical treatise on the diseases of the eye'

Poster Details

First Author: G.Balanikas GREECE

Co Author(s):    D. Peironidis   C. Georgiadou   C. Bakas   S. Maloutas   S. Diafas   D. Christodoulou     

Abstract Details

Purpose:

William Mackenzie (1791-1868) was one of the greatest doctors who established Ophthalmology as one of the major specialties of medicine beyond the kind of 'science' which served many 'quacks' during the past centuries (W. Read, Roger Grant, and the famous Chevalier Taylor). His great work covers every known aspect of the discipline and this will be presented in our work and we believe William Mackenzie was one of the great scientists who established the modern view of Medical science.

Setting:

A' Ophthalmologic Clinic of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital, Greece

Methods:

This treatise was published in 1830 in London by Longman, Rees Orme, Brown and Green company. In our presentation, we use this book and also other sources to make an outline of the life and work of this great man. There are many biographical references that include his medical practice and ideas along with the book. Another text is the Mackenzie Memorial Lecture published in Glasgow Medical Journal (1954).

Results:

The treatise is an 862 pages book which includes 29 chapters with many sections each. It covers the whole known (1830) field of Ophthalmology with anatomy, physiology, pathology, injuries, foreign bodies, and traumas, visual function, and light perception, pathology of the eyelids, the lacrymal route, glaucoma, amaurosis, ophthalmia, cataract, optic nerve disorders, etc. This work was a reference guide for the diseases of the eye and the orbit for many years establishing Mackenzie as an authority in the field of Ophthalmology.

Conclusions:

William Mackenzie was a great ophthalmologist and his education, experience, and his monumental treatise contributed to the establishment of Ophthalmology as one of the first and most interesting surgical specialties clarifying it from the cases of 'quacks'. W. Mackenzie is considered as one of the founders and reformers of the Medicine of our days.

Financial Disclosure:

None