On the anomalies on accommodation and refraction of the eye : with a preliminary essay on physiological dioptrics / by F. C. Donders ; translated from the author's manuscript by William Daniel Moore.

  • Donders, F. C. (Franciscus Cornelis), 1818-1889.
Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the anomalies on accommodation and refraction of the eye : with a preliminary essay on physiological dioptrics / by F. C. Donders ; translated from the author's manuscript by William Daniel Moore. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by UCL Library Services. The original may be consulted at UCL (University College London)

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    Prof. Grijns writes: 'What pleasure it was to watch him and to listen to him during his lectures, that handsome man with his lively eyes, his dignified gestures, his pleasant intonation, his cultured, clear and fascinating discourse. How he made them come alive, those scientists about whose discoveries he told us, by a racy anecdote or a personal reminiscence — for he knew nearly all contemporary physiologists personally. I can still see him, playing with his lorgnette, demonstrating the physiological ex- periments performed by his right-hand man, Kagenaar, who was his instrument maker. I can still recollect how one day Kagelaar was ill, and an experiment, which had been prepared by his assistant, failed. Donders watched his vain attempts for awhile, and then said: 'Gentle- men, I can see nothing except Kagenaar's absence'. Was there no darker side to his character? It has been said that a man's most pronounced qualities are often an overcompensation of his original defects. The second portrait of Don- ders is of later date. I regret to say that it has not impressed me as being that of an accommodating person. Perhaps this will be better understood when I quote Prof. Dr. C. Winkler (I.e.) on Donders: 'As a child of eight or thereabouts I once stayed with the Van Tien- hovens in Amsterdam at a time when his (Donders') only daughter was staying there as well. She was already a grown-up woman then, and played all sorts of boys' games with me. I idolized her, that kind and lovely person, as boys will. Later she married Professor Engelmann, and when I was at the University she died when giving birth to her first child. Her death caused much sadness in Utrecht. Some time after her death, when I was working in the physiology laboratory, I received a message asking me to go to Prof. Donders' room. That was quite unusual. I went there and found him at his desk, which was covered with piles of letters. 'Winkler', he said, 'you met my daughter at the Van Tienhovens' when you were quite a young boy'. 'Yes, I remember her quite well'. 'Then I shall read to you what she wrote about you in those days. At the end of one of her letters she said: Now I must stop, for Keesje Winkler is looking at me with a question in his eyes. I have promised to play marbles with him. The conversation which followed made a deep impression upon me. The loving father, heart-broken by the loss of his daughter, wanted to know how a child had admired her. Then I understood how great was his heart and how grievous to him the blow of this loss. Only much later did I understand the childlike naivety with which he tried to hide that accidents of life could hurt him so deeply. Thus his ways remained strange to many who had not penetrated into his inner self. And they judged him to be a cold man, enigmatic, affected, and sometimes downright rude. In fact Donders' nature was simple as a child's'. It was said that Donders would not bear being contradicted. How great must be our respect for the man who succeeded in guiding his