GRAEFE, grale, ALI3RECHT VON (1828-70). A German ophthalmologist. He was born in Berlin, where his father, Karl Ferdinand von Graefe, a noted surgeon, held a professorship at the university. Graefe took his medical degree in Berlin in 1847, and then pursued the special study of ophthalmology in Prague, Vienna, Paris, and London. In 1850 he returned to Berlin and founded there a private hospital for diseases of the eye. By means of his investigations and his success in difficult operations, he soon became recognized as the leading authority in this branch of medical science. He founded in 1855 the Archiv fitr Ophthalmologic, and was the author of numerous scientific monographs of great value. In 1857 he was made professor extraordinary, in 1866 ordinary professor, of diseases of the eye. Graefe may be regarded as the founder of modern ophthalmology. The invention of the ophthal
moscope by Helmholtz in 1851 opened up possibilities to the science, of which Graefe hastened to take advantage. By use of the in strument he improved vastly the methods of cure for glaucoma. He also introduced new operative methods in cases of strabismus, which established a favorable prognosis in many cases which until then had been considered hopeless. Graefe was also considered an authority on diseases of the brain, and was the first to recognize the im portance of diseases of the eye in the diagnosis of such cases. Consult: Michaelis, Albrecht con Graefc, sein Leben end Wirken (Berlin, 1877) ; Jacobson, Albrecht von Graefes Verdienste em die neuere Ophthalmologic (Berlin, 1885) ; and Al fred Graefe, Ein Wort zur Erinnerung an Al brecht von Graefe (Halle, 1870).