Eye Representation and Ocular Terminology from Antiquity to Helmholtz

This book is a continuation of the research on the representation of the eye initiated by Prof. Ludwig Choulant (University of Dresden) and Prof. Hugo Magnus (University of Breslau) at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century. The aim of the book is to provide all those who need information on how the eye was conceived in a given historical context, with clear and concise iconographic and lexicographic data. The first section contains about 700 images of the eye (first handwritten, then printed) distributed among 450 authors. Each record reproduces the figures of the eye with their own specific anatomical terminology. The second section provides a cluster analysis of the eye figures: the result is a dendrogram, which accounts for the main types of representation of the eye found in the history of ocular anatomy. The work is complemented by a 40-page Index of Concepts containing all the anatomical terms found in the book.

Because of the slightest disciplinary partitioning that prevailed until the 19th century – note that Huygens and Newton studied both optics and eye anatomy – the book is aimed at a wide audience: science historians (geometric and physical optics), medical historians (ocular anatomy and ophthalmology), art historians (drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture), and social scientists interested in vision (psychology and anthropology of visual perception, for example).

Dominique Raynaud is a science historian at Université Grenoble Alpes, France. He has dedicated most of his research work to the history of optics and perspective. Among his recent publications are Optics and the Rise of Perspective (2014), A Critical Edition of Ibn al-Haytham’s Epistle on the Shape of the Eclipse: The First Experimental Study of the Camera Obscura (2016) and Studies on Binocular Vision. Optics, Vision and Perspective from the Thirteenth to the Sevententh Centuries (2016).

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION
    1. Background
    2. Aim of this Book
    3. Caveats
    4. Acknowledgements

SECTION 1: EYE DIAGRAMS FROM ANTIQUITY TO HELMHOLTZ
    1. Antiquity: from Ebers Papyrus to Philoponus
    2. Arabic World: Ḥunayn to Taqī al-Dīn
    3. The Latin Middle Ages: John of Seville to Ryff
    4. Early Modern Europe: Vesalius to Schott
    5. Classicism: Descartes to Porras
    6. The Enlightenment: Hovius to Adams
    7. Nineteenth Century: Pellier de Quengsy to Helmholtz

SECTION 2. CLASSIFICATION OF DIAGRAMS
    1. History
    2. Character Identification and Coding
    3. Matrix of Characters
    4. Hierarchical Clustering Analysis

SECTION 3. TABULAR OVERVIEW OF EYE TERMINOLOGY

SECTION 4. BIBLIOGRAPHY
    1. Commentaries
    2. Primary Sources

SECTION 5. APPENDIXES
    Index of Concepts
    Index of Languages
    Index of Manuscripts
    Photographic Credits

SECTION 6. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
    1. Writing Conventions
    2. Exploration of the Data