Douglas Moray Cooper Lamb Argyll Robertson

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Douglas Moray Cooper Lamb Argyll Robertson (1837 - January 3, 1909) was a Scottish ophthalmologist and surgeon. After earning his degree in 1857 from the University of St Andrews, he went to Berlin to study under Albrecht von Graefe (1828-1870). Robertson spent most of his medical career in Edinburgh as an eye surgeon at the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary and teacher of ophthalmology at the University of Edinburgh. For a while he was honorary eye physician to Queen Victoria and King Edward VII.

Robertson made several contributions in the field of ophthalmology; in 1863 he researched the effects on the eye made by physostigmine, an extract from the Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosum), which is found in tropical Africa. He correctly predicted that physostigmine would become very important in the treatment of eye disorders. He also described a symptom of neurosyphilis that affects the pupils of the eye, which is known today as Argyll Robertson pupils.

[edit] External sources

• Argyll Robertson. Doyne's Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
• Power, Sir D'Arcy (2004), “Robertson, Douglas Moray Cooper Lamb Argyll (1837–1909)”, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP, <http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/35778>. Retrieved on 11 November 2007