A Natural History of Vision

This illustrated survey covers the "observational era of vision", beginning with the Greek philosophers and ending with Wheatstone's description of the stereoscope at the end of the 1830s (after which vision became an experimental science). This history of vision presents extracts of the works of scholars, organized both topically and chronologically. Nicholas J. Wade juxtaposes verbal and visual descriptions, and many of the illustrations are derived from engravings (of portraits of the scholars cited, as well as of scientific diagrams). Each portrait appears beside a significant quotation by the scholar, along with the dates of birth and death, and the source of the original illustration. The author's commentary provides the context for the quotations and traces the scientific development within each topic.