Contact lenses through time

^{John Herschel}

The millions of contact lens wearers worldwide may be somewhat surprised to learn that the history of this mode of optical correction has its origins in antiquity, involving a process that has been one of evolution, not single invention, at times attracting the attention of some of the finest thinkers, scientists and inventors of their times.

Contact lenses alter the refractive status of the eye by neutralising the power of the human cornea. This can be achieved, for example, by placing a medium such as water in front of the eye. It will probably never be known when, or how, this was first realised.

However, 16th century sketches produced by the Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) purport to show a face semi-immersed in a glass hemisphere filled with water.¹ This arrangement would have been totally impractical for the purposes of visual correction, and it is doubtful if that was even Da Vinci’s intention. However, it is likely to be the first recorded example of neutralising the power of the cornea.

In 1637, the French philosopher and scientist Rene Descartes (1596-1650) also realised that the curvature of the corneal surface had a major influence on the refractive status of an eye. In his dissertation, Methods of Correcting Vision,² he proposed placing an elongated glass tube, filled with water, directly over the surface of the cornea, thereby neutralising the latter tissue’s dioptric power.

This arrangement was known as a hydrodiascope. Interestingly, the glass tube did not rest upon the sclera making it, strictly speaking, an early corneal contact lens. However, its exaggerated length would have required cumbersome external support making it (like Da Vinci’s hemispheres) totally unusable as a means of visual correction. By the 19th century, other eminent scientists had become interested in the idea of using fluid to neutralise the cornea’s refractive power.

The English physician and physicist Thomas Young (1773-1829) had become curious about sensory perception, and in particular the visual stimulus of light, while still a medical student. In 1801, he became the first person to describe astigmatism.3 In the same year he delivered a lecture entitled; ‘On Mechanisms of the Eye’.⁴

In this presentation, Young described placing a lens in contact with his eye in order to aid his experiments in vision and in particular his studies into the mechanism of near accommodation. He used a small convex lens (borrowed from a microscope), which was filled with water and was made to adhere to his eye with the assistance of a wax-filled collar – in essence, a similar design to that proposed by Descartes.

The resulting optical arrangement rendered Young highly myopic and this required the addition of an auxiliary correcting spectacle lens. It seems that Young was the first person to actually place a lens onto his eye, however while his experiments proved the cornea plays no part in near focusing, it is not clear if his intentions included using such a lens to correct refractive error.⁵

In one of the first textbooks published on the subject of prescribing and fitting contact lenses, pioneering British practitioners Frank Dickinson and Keith Clifford Hall proposed that the honour of being the originator of this form of optical correction should be accorded to another Englishman: Sir John Frederick William Herschel (1792-1871).⁶

Sir John Frederick William Herschel, first Baronet KH FRS, was the only son of a learned family. His father was the German-British astronomer Sir Frederick William Herschel (1738-1822), who devised a reflecting telescope that enabled him to considerably add to the knowledge of the solar system. Sir Frederick’s sister Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) was also a noted astronomer who frequently assisted in the work of her brother.⁷

Born in Slough, John Herschel was educated at Eton College and then at St John’s College, Cambridge University, where his academic prowess won him various prizes. While an undergraduate, John befriended fellow student Charles Babbage (1792-1871). The latter became a gifted mathematician who is considered the father of the digital computer and who later proposed an early design of the direct ophthalmoscope.⁸

Given his family background it is perhaps not surprising that John also became interested in the subject of astronomy and, over many years, added greatly to the work of his father and aunt. A true polymath John studied not only astronomy, but numerous other subjects including chemistry and mathematics.

In particular, he became fascinated by experimental photography where he pioneered celestial photography and conducted research into using photoactive chemicals in the process of developing photographs.⁹

^{An illustration to Jules Verne’s novel Hector Servadac from 1877 shows Herschel observing Halley’s Comet in 1835 in Cape Town}

At some point John Herschel became interested in eyesight, initially investigating the causes of colour ‘blindness’ and later becoming particularly intrigued by the effect that irregularly shaped corneas had upon vision. Herschel was aware of the work of Thomas Young and also that of a fellow astronomer and mathematician: George Biddell Airy (1801-1892).

In 1825, the latter became the first person to correct astigmatism in the human eye using sphero-cylindrical spectacle lenses.¹⁰ In 1827, Herschel postulated that astigmatism was created by irregularity in the curvature of the cornea.¹¹ Taking this assumption to be true Herschel famously went on to propose a novel alternative to spectacle lenses in the optical correction of astigmatism.

In 1845, Herschel wrote an article entitled ‘Light’ which appeared in Volume IV of the influential Encyclopaedia Metropolitana.¹² In this seminal article Herschel suggested: ‘…it is worthy of consideration whether at least a temporary distinct vision could not be procured by applying on contact with the surface of the eye some transparent animal jelly contained in a spherical capsule of glass or whether an actual mould of the cornea might not be taken and impressed on some transparent medium.’¹³

Herschel was particularly interested in using the above gelatine filled glass shells as a visual aid for those suffering from pathological irregularities of the corneal curvature (ie keratoconus). Unfortunately in the first half of the 19th century the technology was not available to put such ideas into practice and there is no evidence that Herschel prescribed or manufactured contact lenses.

However, in the above few sentences Herschel showed remarkable prescience in describing the concept and optical principles of contact lenses along with their clinical application. In particular, his alluding to making an impression of the cornea is all the more remarkable since local anaesthetics had not yet been introduced.

It was to be some 40 years later before the principles outlined by Herschel were to be put into practical use. In 1882, Xavier Galezowski (1832-1907), a Polish ophthalmologist, followed in 1894 by British ophthalmologist Philip Henry Mules (1843-1905), used gelatine shells impregnated with medications for the treatment of corneal abscesses.

A few years before the work of Mules, in 1887, Frederick Adolph Muller (1838-1879), a respected German glass-blower and manufacturer of prosthetic eyes, blew a thin glass protective shell with a transparent central area. The lens was created to protect the exposed cornea in an eye suffering from incomplete lid closure.¹⁴

It is noteworthy that the earliest use of contact lenses was for therapeutic purposes and, in particular, to provide improved visual acuity in those diagnosed with keratoconus. The second half of the 20th century saw the development of contact lens correction continue at a rapid pace with visual, prosthetic and therapeutic applications to the benefit of many patients.

Sir John Herschel could scarcely have imagined the consequences of his original optical writings. Herschel himself went on to become not only an eminent astronomer and photographer but also made pioneering contributions in mathematics, chemistry and the physics of life. In 1820, he became one of the founder members of the Royal Astronomical Society, serving as its president in 1848. He was knighted in 1831 and appointed Master of the Mint between 1850 and 1855.¹⁵

In recognition of Herschel’s pioneering treatise, the International Society of Contact Lens Specialists has, since 1957, awarded the Herschel prize to those who have contributed outstanding services to contact lenses. Sir John Frederick William Herschel died in 1871 in Kent, England and was later buried in Westminster Abbey. 

• This article is dedicated to the late Albert ‘Bert’ E Cox, lecturer in contact lenses at the Department of Ophthalmic Optics at Glasgow College of Technology. (Now the Department of Vision Sciences, Glasgow Caledonian University.) Cox’s charismatic teachings did much to inspire the author in his early years as a contact lens professional.

References

1. Mandell, R. B.: Contact Lens Practice, 3rd edition., Charles. C. Thomas. Publisher. USA. 1981.
2. Descartes,R.: Methods of Correcting Vision (in French), in his Discours de la Methode, 1636, Discours 7, La Diopotrique. For translation see Enoch, J.M.: Descartes’ Contact Lens, Am J Optom, 33(2):1956.
3. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Young, accessed May 2024
4. Young, T.: ‘On Mechanisms of the Eye’. Bakerian lecture, delivered November 27, London. 1800.
5. Ibid
6. Dickinson, F. & Hall, K.G.: An introduction to the Prescribing and Fitting of Contact Lenses.: Hammond, Hammond & Co.: London. 1947.
7. Chambers Biographical Dictionary.: Volume One. Chambers, Edinburgh. 1974.
8. Ibid
9. Ibid
10. Bowden, T.J., Contact Lenses; The Story. Bower House Publications. 2009
11. Ibid
12. Dickinson, F. & Hall, K.G.: an introduction to the Prescribing and Fitting of Contact Lenses.: Hammond, Hammond & Co.: London, 1947.
13. Herschel, J.F. W.: ‘light’, Encyclopaedia Britanica, 6^th,1823.
14. Montague, R.: Contact Lens Practice.: Visual, Therapeutic & Prosthetic.: Balliere Tindal. London. 1975.
15. Chambers Biographical Dictionary.: Volume One. Chambers, Edinburgh. 1974.