Heine ophthalmoscope


Item details

Object number M-992
Manufacturer Heine
Place Germany
Date 1970s
Category Ophthalmic and ocular instruments
Material Metal, Battery powered

Description

This ophthalmoscope was manufactured in 1970 by the Heine medical house of Herrsching in Bavaria. The genesis of the ophthalmoscope began in Germany in the 1850s when Dr Hermann Von Helmholtz designed the instrument’s prototype. Von Helmholtz specified that the essential requirements for ophthalmoscopes were an illumination source, a reflecting surface training light to the eye, and a way to correct unclear images on the fundus. Whilst the shape of the ophthalmoscope has undergone adjustment with the incorporation of incandescent and other bulbs, and internal power sources, no radical changes have been made to the design precepts outlined by Von Helmholtz. The item shown uses a disposable battery power-source for illumination.