Time Machine: Chapter 27

Astigmatism was first described by Thomas Young (1773–1829), an English polymath and physician, in the 19th century (1), with correction of astigmatism using spectacles then being attempted several times in the 1820s (1,2,3).

In 1813, M. Chamblant, a Parisian engineer and optician, patented lenses with two planoconvex cylindrical lenses affixed with their axes at right angles. Chamblant noticed that his vision was improved with these lenses. Although he did not understand the reason for this improvement, today we might imagine that he had inadvertently corrected his astigmatism due to differences in vertex distance between the front and back lenses, or because of errors in lens rotation (2).

In November 1824, mathematician and astronomer George Biddell Airy designed cylindrical lenses to correct his astigmatism, and had them manufactured by Ipswich optician John Fuller (1792-1867) (1,2). Airy published his idea in 1827.

John Isaac Hawkins, who invented trifocals and coined the term bifocal, proposed using Chamblant’s lenses to correct his own astigmatism. Hawkins published his idea in December 1826, but it is not known if he followed through on the plan (2).

In March 1825, opticians John McAllister (Sr. and Jr.) of Philadelphia began advertising “Chamblant's Glasses, on the new construction of Cylindrical Surfaces…” (2).

In November 1825, while visiting New York harbor, Princeton Divinity student Chauncey Enoch Goodrich (1801–1864) noted that, when wearing concave spectacles, the horizontal cross-rigging of the ships appeared more clear than the vertical masts. Goodrich also observed the effects of tilting his head, coming up with the idea that cylindrical lenses might correct his own refractive error. In 1826, he requested cylindrical lenses from McAllister, who supplied him with planoconcave cylindrical spectacles imported from France in 1827 and 1828. In February 1828, Goodrich submitted his observations for publication (4).

Unfortunately, American ophthalmologists ignored the report about astigmatism correction from this inquisitive Divinity student with a scientific mind. It was not until Dutch ophthalmologist Franciscus Cornelius Donders (1818–1889) published his own 1864 treatise on refraction that American doctors finally began to take note (1).

Goodrich ultimately attracted “more interest for his agricultural successes than as respects his faithful exercise of the ministerial function” (5). Throughout his career, he wrote 130 scientific communications about the breeding of potatoes, some of which he obtained from Chile, and which are the ancestors of the potatoes sold in American supermarkets today.