(History of) Clinical refraction and visual science

Historical Significance: This book is poorly named and could be mistaken for a text book on clinical refraction and vision science. It is in fact a book on history of these subjects. It comprises a series of articles on the history of important advances in ophthalmic and vision science. These include William Porterfield (1697-1771) invention of the optometer; the history of the detection and correction of myopia and hypermetropia; the understanding of the mechanism of accommodation and the invention of bifocals and trifocals; the discovery and correction of astigmatism by Thomas Young and George Airy (with a side section on its discovery and correction in the USA) and lastly a section on the cornea and the development of contact lenses over four centuries. It includes biographical information about the main inventors. The author John Levene (1929-1983) qualified in optometry at the City University UK holding the FSMC and FBOA qualifications. He did his MSc and DPhil at Oxford University. He was professor of physiological optics at Indiana University (1967-1975) and became Dean at the Southern college of Optometry, Memphis. See his biography Goss DA, Indiana J Optom 2011;14,2-3.