This article was originally written by W. P. Face, Reading, PA, and published in the 1908-1909 Optical Review, which is believed to now be public domain.
From about the 14th to the 17th century most of the spectacles were sold by peddlers. In the early part of the 17th century optical stores were established, the first being in Germany. By the latter part of the same century, optical stores were to be found in nearly all the large cities of Europe. Similar stores appeared in a few American cities about the beginning of the 18th century.
The largest number of optical stores, in Europe and America, were conducted at first by men who, themselves, ground the lenses and manufactured the spectacles they had for sale. These men were interested not only in the manufacture and sale of spectacles, but also in the study of the laws of optics and vision. This is proven by the fact that we are indebted to many of these men for discoveries in ophthalmology and ophthalmometry. It is said that Spinoza made spectacles and sold them to earn a living while he was writing his famous philosophical works.
The practical discovery of the telescope is ascribed to Galileo. While at Venice, he heard that two spectacle-makers in Holland had made an optical device which made distant objects seem nearer. Galileo then set to work and ground two pieces of glass—one convex, the other concave. He fitted these pieces of glass to the two ends of an organ pipe, with which he produced effects that delighted and astonished all beholders. He devoted himself to the work of improving and perfecting this contrivance, in which he was so successful, that to him is ascribed the honor of inventing the telescope, in 1608.
The discovery of the microscope is also associated with spectacle makers. We find lenses first used for microscopic purposes about the end of the 16th century. Those who worked with the microscope were those who were engaged in grinding lenses and making spectacles.
In 1600 we find regular guilds of spectacle-makers in Italy, France, Germany, Holland and England. These guilds, or societies, had their by-laws, and each had its own coat-of-arms. The by-laws and the coat-of-arms of the guild of Ratisbon are still preserved in the famous museum of Nuremburg. The members of the various guilds were known as opticians.
The regular guilds of spectacle-makers required that an apprenticeship be served. They also required that the apprentice gain knowledge of the laws of optics, before he was permitted to become a working companion of his master. When such a worker became the working companion of his master, he also became known as an optician.
As the usefulness of spectacles became apparent to the masses of people, the demand for lenses increased, and the number of optical stores grew proportionately. Frequently the finished apprentice established a store, and became, himself, a master optician. Factories were built for the manufacture of spectacles on a large scale.
With the establishment of factories, which were able to produce spectacles at a much lesser cost than could the individual maker, the master optician began to discontinue manufacturing, and bought most of his spectacles from the various manufacturers. About 1870, there appeared the first of what are now known as job shops, in which are ground specially ordered lenses, and which sell spectacles at wholesale.
With the advent of spectacle manufacturing on a large scale and the job shops, as well as with the growing exactions of the wearers, the master optician turned his attention to the proper selection of spectacles. A great aid to this was the invention of the trial case. It is generally conceded that the French optician, Nachet, was the inventor, manufacturing the first trial cases, about 1825.
Between 1800 and 1870, great gains were made in ocular knowledge. With the coming of the test case, the discovery of astigmia and the knowledge of how it could be corrected, a large number of master opticians began to devote their entire attention to the detection and the mechanical correction of defective ocular refraction. These master opticians, most of whom had optical stores, became known as “refracting opticians,” or “refractionists.”
In the United States, between 1880 and 1890, schools were incorporated to teach the art or, as it may be called, the science of correcting defective sight by means of glasses. These schools were entitled to furnish diplomas to their scholars on the completion of the prescribed course of study. Some of the schools conferred honorary degrees upon their graduates. Some conferred the degree of “graduate optician”; others, the degree of “doctor of optics”; still others, the degree of “doctor of refraction.” More recently “doctor of optometry” has been conferred as a degree.
These optical schools became popular, and graduated a large number of students. In some of the present schools the courses of study cover almost the entire field of ophthalmology—ocular surgery and drug therapeutics excepted.