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Ophthalmological Observations Made During the Mid-19th-Century European Encounter With Africa
A. J. Larner, MD, MRCP(UK), DHMSA
Arch Ophthalmol. 2004;122:267-272.
European travelers in Africa in the mid-19th century encountered environments quite unlike those of their native lands. These provided many new and unanticipated health challenges. The ophthalmological consequences of exposure to such climates, as recorded incidentally in travelogues, are of potential interest. In this article, the almostcontemporaneous narratives of 3 travelers with considerable medical training, David Livingstone and his sometime companion John Kirk, who journeyed in southern Africa, and Gustav Nachtigal, who traveled in northern Africa, are examined for information on ophthalmological problems, both observed and personally experienced. This affords an opportunity to compare observations made in Saharan and sub-Saharan Africa.
From the Walton Centre for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Liverpool, United Kingdom. The author has no relevant financial interest in this article.
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