The ophthalmoscope and the physician: Technical innovations and professionalization of medicine

Abstract

This article examines the impact of the ophthalmoscope on medical practice and the transformation the medical profession undertook during the second half of the nineteenth century. It argues that the ophthalmoscope had been at the same time an indicator and an accelerator of the transition of medicine from a learned profession to a discipline based on empirical observation, collection and interpretation of data performed by experts. The first six decades since the invention of the ophthalmoscope correspond to a moment when medicine became well established as a hospital-based discipline grounded on clinical observations. This explains the reasons for the instrument's success amongst physicians and the small number of hesitancies it provoked, especially when compared to earlier devices such as the stethoscope. The history of the ophthalmoscope shows hence the close connexion, characteristic of modern medicine, between the medical profession and the use of instruments capable of providing observable data about the patient's body. Furthermore, the ability to perform ophthalmoscopy demonstrated that a physician possessed solid observational, interpretive and analytical skills. Its use hence contributed significantly to shaping the professional identity of medical doctors.