The ophthalmic surgeon Joseph Barth, 1746-1818 : from the Holy Infirmary of Valletta to the professorship of ophthalmology in Vienna

Abstract

While Joseph Barth is still remembered as a great figure in Vienna where he won his spurs as an ophthalmologist and as an art connoisseur, he is hardly known in Malta, the land of his birth. Perhaps the main reason why one does not hear much about him is that he left the Island in his early youth and that he spent the rest of his life abroad. His memory, however, was still fresh until a century ago at least among the avant garde of the medical profession in Malta. [excerpt from the introduction]