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William Horatio Bates (December 23, 1860 - July 10, 1931) was an American physician who practiced ophthalmology and developed what is now known as the Bates Method for better eyesight,[1] an educational method intended to improve vision by undoing a supposed habitual strain to see. The efficacy of the method is questionable, and his theory that the eye does not focus by changing the power of the lens, but rather by elongating the eyeball, through use of the extraocular oblique muscles, was contradicted by mainstream ophthalmology and optometry of his day and is still today.[2][3]
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Biography
Bates graduated A.B. from Cornell University in 1881 and received his medical degree at the college of physicians and surgeons in 1885. He formulated a theory about vision health, and published the book Perfect Sight Without Glasses in 1920. Parts of Bates' approach to correcting vision disorders were based on psychological principles, which was contrary to many of the medical theories of the time and remain so. The Bates Method still enjoys some limited acceptance as a modality of alternative medicine.
Bates treated many patients, who claimed to have been cured of vision defects, especially myopia. This brought him into conflict with his peers. He defended himself by claiming that other physicians were in thrall to the establishment.
Bates' publications
Because the copyrights are over 70 years old, the original version of Perfect Sight Without Glasses (or The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses) is available free on the Internet (see Further reading). In 1943 Bates' widow, Emily Bates, published an abridged version under the title Better Eyesight Without Glasses, which removed many of his more controversial claims, such as "perfectly remembering black" being a suitable substitute for anaesthesia[4] and claims related to looking at the sun).[2]
Bates' mental health
Bates appears to have suffered from a strange episode of amnesia (or possibly psychogenic fugue)[original research?], referred to in his obituary,[5] perhaps wrongly as 'a strange form of aphasia'. In 1902 he disappeared, was found, and then disappeared again, only to reappear after his second wife, who searched in vain for him, had died. This episode was said to have given him a particular interest in memory, perhaps influencing the direction of his work. He was married three times, having been widowed twice. In 1928, he married his long-time personal assistant Emily C. Lierman.
Discovery of the medical use of adrenaline
Bates did other research. He discovered the astringent and haemostatic properties of the substance produced by the suprarenal gland, and its value in medicine, especially in surgeries. The substance would later be commercialized as adrenaline. [6]
See also
References
- ^ Edited by Thomas R. Quackenbush. Better Eyesight. The Complete Magazines of William H. Bates. North Atlantic Books, 2001. ISBN 1-55643-351-4.
- ^ a b Marg, E. (1952). ""Flashes" of clear vision and negative accommodation with reference to the Bates Method of visual training" (PDF). Am J Opt Arch Am Ac Opt 29 (4): 167–84, http://brain.berkeley.edu/pub/1952%20April%20Flashes%20of%20Clear%20Vision.pdf.
- ^ Russell S. Worrall OD, Jacob Nevyas PhD, Stephen Barrett MD (September 12, 2007). "Eye-Related Quackery". Quackwatch. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ William Bates. "Perfect Sight Without Glasses, Chapter 19".
- ^ "Obituary of William H. Bates". New York Times (July 11, 1931).
- ^ Bates, William H. (1896). "The Use of Extract of Suprarenal Capsule in the Eye" 647-650. New York Medical Journal.
Further reading
- Bates, William Horatio (1920). The Cure of Imperfect Sight by Treatment Without Glasses. Central Fixation Publishing Co.
- Better Eyesight magazine published by Bates (from 1919 to 1930)
External links
