Optometry of Daza de Valdes (1591-ca. 1636)

The 1623 Spanish book entitled Uso de los Antoios by Benito Daza de Valdes has been translated into English and is presently available in manuscript form at the International Library, Archives, and Museum of Optometry. The first of its three parts deals with the nature and properties of the eye and its refractive conditions. The second discusses contemporary spectacle lenses and frames in technological and utilitarian detail. The third and major part in the style of Platonian dialogue describes a variety of clinical optometric problems and their practical solutions. The procedural similarities to today's mode of optometric analysis is remarkably evident.