A History of Ophthalmology
Ophthalmology--the Dark Ages
Historical records of ophthalmology as a medical science are probably as old as medical science itself. The first documented example is in the Code of Hammurabi, wherein it is provided that the successful operation on a human eye by a physician is to be rewarded with compensation. Albeit that, in the tradition of Hammurabi, there is more compensation available for the operation of a "gentleman" than of a poor man, the records are still there. (Also in the tradition of the great Hammurabi, the surgeon would lose his hands in the event of an unsuccessful operation.) Prior to this, it is believed that the scientific methods associated with the branch of ophthalmology extended as far as comparing one's ailment to that of others in the marketplace who might also have been afflicted. Surface pathological similarities were noted, and the disease was then diagnosed in a sort of medical democracy.
The Egyptians showed remarkable knowledge of the human eye and its conditions in a time not much later than that of Hammurabi. Papyrus manuscripts on the subject actually emphasised diagnosis and viable treatments. Elsewhere in the world eye conditions were handled with rank incantations and accusations of heresy, but the Egyptians showed what must have been centuries of empirical practice and observation, and had already differentiated a number of diseases. They had found the conditions blepharitis, chalazion, ectropion, entropion, trichiasis, granulations, chemosis, pinguecula, pterygium, leucoma, staphyloma, iritis, cataract, hyphaema, inflammation, ophthalmoplegia and dacryocystitis. Egyptian surgery, however, showed no significant advances--the most widespread procedure documented was epilation. (In modern language, epilation translates to the removal of hair; now put removal and eye together for the ancient version.)
At the same time in the Ancient East, medicine was still tangled with supernaturalism and perceived notions of demonic possession in the cases of virtually all diseases. There is an obsure reference to a woman with a prosthetic gold eye in ancient Hebrew texts.
Later on, in the world of the Greeks, changes in ophthalmology came as a result of the depreciation of superstition, and was fundamentally centered on the death of that superstition rather than hard advances in technology and practices. The most significant advance in the era was probably the discovery of the optic nerve by Alcmaeon. Also, the Greeks' treatment methods of some forms of conjunctivitis is the underlying basis of modern treatment of trauchoma. Otherwise, however, the Greeks were fueled in their treatment of eyes by very rudimentary knowledge of the eye's anatomy and even sketchier understandings of its physiology and pathology.
Ophthalmology Survives by Scrambling up the Sooty Back of Sinking Humanity
...or...
The Middle Ages and the Renaissance
As is the stereotype for the middle ages, intellectual culture was on the verge of death. The initial flickerings of systematized intellect began to show themselves in the areas surrounding Salerno. In the eleventh century, Constantinus Africanus contributed heavily to the revival of ophthalmology by translating old writings to Latin and starting a "snowball of learning" (if you'll allow me a little vernacular). Regardless of the flickerings of mind, the common man was allowed to perform surgery on the eye of another. Practitioners actually advised against surgery, and looked with a skeptical eye (pun very much intended) upon treatment of ocular disease.
The centuries of ignorance following the advances of the Egyptians ended in the Renaissance. People of this era committed more in-depth analyses of the human eye, and began to look into the mechanics of vision. Ophthalmology advanced profoundly through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; the discoveries made during that time opened the gates for nineteenth century advancements, including the artificial pupil and cataract extraction. The second half of the nineteenth century brought the competent treatment of glaucoma, and helped bring ophthalmology to the ranks of the most exact medical sciences.
A brief list of the eye's parts
http://www.mrcophth.com/Historyofophthalmology/physiology.htm
http://www.stlukeseye.com/Anatomy.asp