35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London WC2A 3PP
UK
Empire of the Eye: Indian oculists, British surgeons and the trans-imperial development of Victorian cataract surgery
Speaker – Kristin Hussey
Before the bombing in 1941, the Royal College of Surgeons boasted an impressive collection of eye specimens, including over a hundred globes sent from India by surgeon Robert Henry Elliot. These eyes showed the trauma caused by couching, a method of removing cataracts used by indigenous Indian practitioners. Yet this technique was not limited to the Raj, with itinerant oculists plying their trade in the imperial metropolis of London. Kristin will discuss how we can see the eye, and eye surgery, as a unique crystallization point in medical ideas travelling from East to West and back again.
Lunchtime lectures last approximately 45 minutes plus time for questions.
All lunchtime lectures are supported with live Speech-to-text delivered by Stagetext for D/deaf, deafened and hard of hearing.
Tickets: £4 – booking essential on 020 7869 6568