Letters and a draft report concerning the use of tonometry and drugs by optometrists
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Catalogue Number: 541
Letters and a draft report concerning the use of tonometry and drugs by optometrists
Category: Papers
Sub-Category: Collection of papers (Events)
Author: Various
Year Of Publication/Manufacture: 1962 and 1963
Time Period: 1940 to 1999
Place Of Publication/Manufacture: Melbourne
Description Of Item: A letter from the Australian Optometrical Association Victorian Division signed by the President Bruce Besley dated 4 Sept 1962 to J Nathan asking if the Education Committee of the College would advise on the use of tonometry and drugs by optometrists. A carbon copy of a letter signed by an unnamed member of the College Council written on behalf of the Council Chairman GH Henry to Mr Giles (Secretary of the British Optical Association) dated 14 Nov 1962 asking advice on the use of drugs by optometrists. Draft of a Report of the Education and Research Advisory Committee of the Victorian College of Optometry on the question of the use of tonometry and drugs by optometrists dated April 1963. A pencilled note on the front page 'Prepared by AI' indicates it was written by Alan Isaacs
Historical Significance: The Opticians Registration Act 1935 prohibited optometrists from using drugs. Optometrists did not dilate the pupil or do tonometry until the 1960s, although a few optometrists, notably Alan Isaacs and David Cockburn, defied the law in their own practices and obtained and used topical anaethestics for tonometry and mydriatics for ophthalmoscopy in the 1950s and John Strachan used anaesthetics for fitting haptic lenses. These letters and papers of 1962 and 1963 relate to the move for optometrists to use diagnostic drugs. Optometrists got legal access to diagnostic drugs in 1982 and to therapeutic drugs in 2000.
How Acquired: Donated by Alan Isaacs, honorary life member of the College and former Councillor of the College
Condition: Fair
Location: Archive office. Pamphlet and ephemera filing cabinet. Drawer 1
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