Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Albrecht von Gräfe

GRÄFE, Albrecht von (1828-1870), German oculist, son of Karl Ferdinand von Gräfe, noticed below, was born at Berlin in May 1828. At an early age he manifested a preference for the study of mathematics, but this was gradually superseded by an interest in natural science, which led him ultimately to the study of medicine. After obtaining Government licence at Berlin, he prosecuted his studies at Vienna, Prague, and Paris, devoting special attention to ophthalmology. In 1850 he began practice as an oculist in Berlin, where he founded a private institution for the treatment of the eyes, which became the model of many similar ones in Germany and Switzerland. In 1853 he was appointed teacher of ophthalmology in Berlin university, in 1856 extraordinary professor, and in 1866 ordinary professor. Von Gräfe contributed largely to the perfection of the science of ophthalmology, especially by the establishment in 1855 of his Archiv fur Ophthalmologie, in which he had Arlt and Donders as collaborateurs. Perhaps his two most important discoveries are his method of treatment for glaucoma, until then deemed incurable, and his new method of operation for the extraction of cataract, by which the danger of the operation became minimized. He was also regarded as an authority in diseases of the nerves and brain. He died at Berlin 20th August 1870. See Alfred Gräfe, Ein Wort zur Erinnerung an Albrecht von Gräfe, Halle, 1870.