Adrien van Trigt, and the first published ophthalmoscopic images (De Speculo Oculi, 1853)

Abstract

A. C. van Trigt’s 1853 doctoral thesis, De Speculo Oculi or De Oogspiegel, is generally recognized to contain the first ever published images of the interior of living human eyes. One of its 12 images is recognized and often reproduced as the first published. Others, showing physiological processes such as retinal venous pulsations and arteriolar light reflexes, and pathological processes such as retinal detachment and retinitis pigmentosa, are scarcely ever noted in the literature. Although van Trigt is widely recognized for this accomplishment, virtually nothing has been written about him or his thesis. This article describes his life, his artistic talent and diverse interests, and his thesis with its rarely credited original ophthalmoscopic observations and illustrations.