Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Glasses" in English language version.
... colore vivido inter candidum et subnigrum, vivacibus oculis et visu per longum tempus acerrimo, qui preter spem supra sexagesimum etatis annum me destituit, ut indignanti michi ad ocularium confugiendum esset auxilium.
I am interested in the remarks of Prof. J. HIRSCHBERG on the "History of the Invention of Glasses" published in the last issue of this journal (Volume VI, pp. 221–223) and the subsequent discussion by Prof. GÜPPERT. The book by HIRSCHBERG mentioned therein, in which his theory should be presented in detail, has not yet become accessible to me. I, therefore, limit my criticism of it as far as possible and prefer to prove, by means of new material from Chinese literature, that the view of the original invention of spectacles in India is the greatest probability. HIRSCHBERG theory is highly unlikely, as all previous experience has shown and contradicts analogies in cultural history and in the history of inventions in particular; Crystal spectacles appear in the European Middle Ages, in India, and in China, and from the historical point of view one can suppose from the outset that these inventions did not occur independently in each of these three cultural groups, but that a historical connection is here present.
I was possessed of a clear complexion, between light and dark, lively eyes, and for long years a keen vision, which however deserted me, contrary to my hopes, after I reached my sixtieth birthday, and forced me, to my great annoyance, to resort to glasses.
