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Louise Wilkie Curator, Surgeons’ Hall Museums

The museum’s latest exhibition shines a light on ophthalmology, which is considered to be one of the oldest specialties in medicine, and is inspired by a collection of ophthalmological illustrations discovered in our collections during the 2022–2023 art project funded by Museums Galleries Scotland.

Many of these drawings were donated by George Mackay (1861–1949). who became a Fellow in 1886. He specialised in ophthalmology, and was appointed Surgeon to the Royal Infirmary and lecturer on diseases of the eye at the University of Edinburgh. These drawings were cases Mackay treated and are illustrated by the artist ‘JG’. He donated just under 200 drawings, the majority signed by this unknown artist. One biographer wrote of Mackay: “As a cataract operator he had no superior and few equals… His steadiness and precision were absolute and his results almost uniformly good.”

The watercolour shown here is an illustration of one of Mackay's patients, a woman who suffered from inherited syphilis, showing interstitial keratitis of both eyes. The right cornea is irregularly hazy from interstitial keratitis and considerably hyperaemic. The left eye shows a complicated cataract and posterior synechiae, as well as a small hypopyon in the anterior chamber. There is hyperaemia around the lower half of the cornea. 

Mackay represents one of many ophthalmologists who went on to become President of the College. Ophthalmology has a high representation in this most senior role of the RCSEd. Mackay joined the ranks of other presidents who also specialised in ophthalmology, such as John Wishart (1781–1834), John Argyll Robertson (1800–1855), William Walker (1813–1885), George Andreas Berry (1853–1940) and Arthur Sinclair (1868–1962). The exhibition will examine these figures and others who contributed to the development of ophthalmology, as well as look at early surgical treatment for eye conditions, including couching and early treatment of cataract. The complex anatomy of the eye will be explored, as will some of the earliest misconceptions about how the eye works. The exhibition will also look into myths and superstitions that in some cases delayed scientific investigation and discoveries.   

The exhibition will utilise the Gartnaval collection received in 1999 from the Gartnaval Hospital in Glasgow. This collection covers ophthalmic surgical instruments and ophthalmology material. The hospital took over as base for the Glasgow Eye Infirmary in 1988 after a fire in 1971 at the original hospital, which was established in 1824. The museum holds ophthalmic instruments from notable surgeons such as Robert Liston (1794–1847), Past-President William Walker (Surgeon Occulist to Queen Victoria) and more recently by collections from Norman Leslie Stokoe FRCSEd (1923–2017).

Walker’s collection includes wax models showcasing ophthalmic conditions, including tumours, ectropion, staphyloma and syphilitic destruction of the eyelids. An unusual instrument he donated to the museum is a keratotome, or corneal knife, made by de Guerin of Bordeaux, which was “presented to the Academy of Surgery of Paris in 1786”. Not much is known about this instrument but it conveys Walker’s interest in the specialty's history.

A key part of the exhibition is looking at the development of opthalmology thanks to the invention of the ophthalmoscope. This instrument enhanced the study of eye conditions and treatments. It brought about changes in the profession and treatment of the eye, leading to the primary care provider role of the optometrist and the specialised field of the ophthalmologist. The man credited for this invention in 1851 is Hermann von Helmholtz in Germany in 1851. One of the earliest examples we have in the collection belonged to former museum Conservator and anatomist John Goodsir (1814–1867). This ophthalmoscope was designed by Joseph Ritter von Hasner (1819–1892) and made by Paetz & Flohr of Berlin (an early specialist instrument maker of ophthalmology instruments) in 1853. Goodsir lectured and published on his discoveries of the eye, no doubt with much thanks to this new invention.

With a range of instruments, models and artwork, alongside fun interactives, this exhibition should be a real eye-opener.

The exhibition runs from 29 March 2024 to March 2025