Carl Friedrich Richard Foerster (1825-1902) - the inventor of perimeter and photometer.

Carl Friedrich Richard Foerster (1825-1902) was a German who was born in the Polish city Leszno. He studied medicine at the Medical Faculty of Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland) University, and later in Heidelberg and Berlin. From 1855, he worked in Breslau, where he established in 1857 the first ophthalmology clinic. Later, he became a professor in ophthalmology, the first director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Breslau, and even the rector of this University. Forster did many pioneering works on visual fields, invented a photometer and the first perimeter, known for many years as the Foerster perimeter. Moreover, he studied night blindness, visual field changes due to different pathologies, and many eye diseases, including glaucoma, cataract, retinal and choroidal diseases.

The flame photometer as engine of nephrology: a biography.

In the 1940s, the flame photometer made possible for the first time relatively simple and quick measurements of sodium and potassium in serum and urine. During World War II, it unexpectedly fell into the hands of John P. Peters of Yale University, who sought to understand water and electrolyte physiology and apply such knowledge to patient problems. Pupils and young associates of Peters would seed the early nephrology divisions and training programs in the United States; the flame photometer was essential to their work and that of their trainees, both Americans and international visitors. Hyponatremia and the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion became the "attribute" disorders of nephrologists. Invention of a microflame photometer fostered the revival of micropuncture and transport studies. In the 1960s, the flame photometer was linked to Leonard Skeggs' sequential automated analysis system, leading to enormous numbers of routine measurements of electrolytes. The growing number of nephrologists, then based mostly at teaching hospitals, thus found plentiful instances of sodium and potassium abnormalities to address. The autoanalyzer also catalyzed use of the anion gap, another emblem of nephrology in its early decades. Not only ideas and theories, but also the usually invisible machinery, enable the growth of a knowledge base and formation of a scientific discipline or medical specialty. Of course, the flame photometer did not itself shape the agenda of nephrology, but it allowed the most influential group of progenitors and their progeny to explore normal function and bring a strongly physiologic imperative to their daily work with patients.

Critical review of burn depth assessment techniques: Part I. Historical review.

The assessment of burn depth, and as such, the estimation of whether a burn wound is expected to heal on its own within 21 days, is one of the most important roles of the burn surgeon. A false-positive assessment and the patient faces needless surgery, a false-negative one and the patient faces increased length of stay, risks contracture, and hypertrophic scar formation. Although many clinical signs can aid in this determination, accurate assessment of burn depth is possible only 64 to 76% of the time, even for experienced burn surgeons. Through the years, a variety of tools have become available, all attempting to improve clinical accuracy. Part 1 of this two-part article reviews the literature supporting the different adjuvants to clinical decision making is, providing a historical perspective that serves as a framework for part 2, a critical assessment of laser Doppler imaging.

Major developments in clinical chemical instrumentation.

The introduction of instrumentation into the clinical chemistry laboratory is reviewed for the period extending from about 1890 to 1960. Topics covered, from a historical point of view, include the microscope, analytical balance, and centrifuge, colorimetry and spectrophotometry, flame photometry, gasometric analysis, pH, electrophoresis, chromatography, radioisotopes, and automation.