Sir William Mackenzie: sympathetic ophthalmia and glaucoma before ophthalmoscopy

One of the practitioners of probably the oldest surgical specialty, ophthalmic, was the eminent Scottish ophthalmologist, Sir William Mackenzie. Educated in Edinburgh, he moved to Glasgow, and described and named sympathetic ophthalmia before the time of the ophthalmoscope, well defining his powers of observation and deduction. Founding the Glasgow Eye Infirmary, his 'Practical Treatise on Diseases of the Eye' appeared in English in four editions (1850-1884) and in French and German. In this also appears the first full and clear account of glaucoma. Both he and the illustrator of his book, Wharton Jones, moved to Glasgow because of rather indefinite connections with Robert Knox, the anatomist, who was allegedly helped by the bodysnatchers, Burke and Hare. Mackenzie and his book were highly regarded before the revolutionary ophthalmoscope. He was knighted and appointed Surgeon Oculist to the Queen in Scotland.