The Library at the Institut für Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin

Courtyard in front of the Institut

Last week, as many have already said, was a little different because so many of us were in and out working on our 485 projects, and a few classes were canceled. On Tuesday I took a trip to Cologne for my appointment with Dr. Bergdolt at the Institut für Geschichte und Ethik der Medizin to talk about my project, which is over the history of ophthalmology. I wasn't sure what to expect since my meeting was different from a lot of other people's, in that I wasn't actually going to watch a procedure or tour a lab. When I met Dr. Bergdolt, he asked several questions about the program in general and my project to get an idea of what I was doing, and then he took me to the Institut's Bibliothek and showed me the ophthalmology shelves. Some of the books were in German, but many were in English, either because they were translated from German or were originally written in English. At first I felt overwhelmed because there were way more books than I could possibly look through in one afternoon, but I took down a few that looked promising and got to work. It took me only a few minutes to realize that nearly every book in there was a special edition and probably relatively rare. Also, in my preliminary research I had come across several important Germans from 19^th century ophthalmology, and I soon recognized the authors of some of the books as being these men. There was even a reprint of one of the first specialized ophthalmology books in the western world. I felt like such a nerd getting so excited about old books, but I think, based on our previous experiences, that many of my fellow biomedical students would have been right there with me. After several hours of looking at books and taking notes, I was allowed to make copies of some pages to take with me and continue my research later. All the information I got put me well on my way towards writing the paper.

Wednesday and Thursday, I did not have any classes at all once they were rescheduled, which allowed me a chance to work on homework and studying, as well as catch up on some much-needed sleep, a very welcome change.

Books!!!