ABSTRACT

This article analyses how nineteenth-century medical science apprehended the eye and its functions. It disputes Jonathan Crary’s claim of the alleged mistrust towards human vision as a source of reliable information from the 1830s onwards. It is based on the analysis of scholarly and popular scientific publications from the early 1850s to the first decades of the twentieth century, a typology of sources overlooked by Crary as well as by most of the works in the field of Visual Studies. It focuses on French documents because of the progress undertaken by medical research on the eyesight in the country at the time and the number and scope of both scientific and popular publications. In the first part, I analyse the new set of knowledge about the anatomy and physiology of the eye that physicians developed at the time – notably through the use of newly introduced instruments such as the ophthalmoscope and the ophthalmometer. In the second part, I describe how contemporary medical research led to the acknowledgment of the subjectivity of visual perceptions and the fragile nature of human visual capacities. In the last section, I show how, through a process of classification and rationalisation of the newly acquired knowledge, physicians managed to reinstate the objective character of visual perceptions on the basis of their research.

摘要

本文分析了 19 世纪医学如何理解眼睛及其功能。它对 Jonathan Crary 声称不信任人类视觉作为 1830 年代以来可靠信息来源的说法提出异议。它基于对 1850 年代初至 20 世纪头几十年的学术和流行科学出版物的分析，这是一种被 Crary 以及视觉研究领域的大多数作品所忽视的资源类型。它侧重于法国文件，因为当时该国在视力方面的医学研究取得了进展，以及科学和流行出版物的数量和范围。在第一部分，我分析了当时医生开发的关于眼睛解剖学和生理学的新知识——特别是通过使用检眼镜和检眼镜等新引入的仪器。在第二部分，我描述了当代医学研究如何导致人们承认视觉感知的主观性和人类视觉能力的脆弱性。在最后一节中，我展示了医生如何通过对新获得的知识进行分类和合理化的过程，在他们的研究基础上设法恢复视觉感知的客观特征。我描述了当代医学研究如何导致人们承认视觉感知的主观性和人类视觉能力的脆弱性。在最后一节中，我展示了医生如何通过对新获得的知识进行分类和合理化的过程，在他们的研究基础上设法恢复视觉感知的客观特征。我描述了当代医学研究如何导致人们承认视觉感知的主观性和人类视觉能力的脆弱性。在最后一节中，我展示了医生如何通过对新获得的知识进行分类和合理化的过程，在他们的研究基础上设法恢复视觉感知的客观特征。