Contributions to ophthalmic science

Historical Significance: The book is dedicated to Edward Jackson, a pioneer of American ophthalmology and an early advocate of retinoscopy and of the use of the cross cylinder in the determination of astigmatism. Jackson (1856 - 1942) was Professor of Diseases of the Eye in the Philadelpia Polyclinic and the College for Graduates in Medicine and was a surgeon at the Wills Eye Hospital. He explained and popularised retinoscopy which had been invented by Cuignet of Lille in 1873 but without understanding its optical principles. Jackson was president of major national ophthalmologic organisations, professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Colorado. He established the first graduate course for ophthalmologists and was the principal founder of the American Board of Ophthalmology. He founded and edited the Yearbook of Ophthalmology and Ophthalmic Literature. In 1918, he became editor of the third series of the American Journal of Ophthalmology, which consolidated five ophthalmic periodicals.