Liebreich's Ophthalmoscope.
Leather-covered case, approx. 2 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. with "Liebreich's Ophthalmoscope" in gilt on top.
Inside is velvet-lines with five small (20mm dia.) lenses in a slot in the top lid and two larger (32mm) lenses in the bottom. Scope has a metal mirror with a central void. This suggests a date of ca 1860-1870.
Friedrich Richard Liebreich (1830-1917) was born in East Prussia. He received his doctorate in 1853 and became a preparator for Helmholtz, the inventor of the Ophthalmoscope just a couple of years earlier. Liebreich then began working with von Graefe. Liebreich's first ophthalmoscope was a standing model. He then developed these small, hand-held models, which lasted for almost 50 years.
Provenance:
Henry Fitz (1808-1863)
Julia Ann Wells Fitz (1814-1892)
George Wells Fitz (1860-1934)
Barbara Fitz Switzer (1904-1991)
Thence by descent to the present owner
