CROSS, Andrew Jay: Optometrist; born Antwerp, N.Y., April 30, 1855.
_________________________________________________________
Biographical Sketches
David A. Goss, O.D., Ph.D.
School of Optometry, Indiana University,
Bloomington, IN 47405, [email protected]
ANDREW J. CROSS (1855-1925)
A.J. Cross was born in Antwerp, New York in 1855 and started doing optometric work in Visalia, California in 1876. After stops in several cities in the northwestern and then eastern United States, in 1889 he established an optometry practice in New York city. In 1898, Cross was elected president of the New York State Society of Optometrists. He was instrumental in the effort to establish an optometry licensure law in New York State. In the 1929 book History of Optometry, Arrington devoted a four page chapter to Cross in which he said that Cross "came to be known as the Grand Old Man of Optometry, - an appellation which he richly earned; for it will hardly be disputed that no single man gave of himself more fully and freely to the cause of optometry, and none had more valuable gifts to give."
In 1900-1901, Cross was president of the American Association of Opticians, the organization that became the American Optometric Association.2 He was an instructor in the optometry school at Columbia University from 1911 to 1924. He also worked on the invention of a monocentric bifocal lens.
To quote Arrington again, Cross "had a genius for expounding optical theories and facts in a way that made them simple to grasp, and study under him was a pleasure."
A.J. Cross is probably best known as being the primary developer of early dynamic retinoscopy procedures. He wrote two books on retinoscopy. The first, A System of Ocular Skiametry, (181 pages) was published in 1903. In the preface, Cross acknowledged that ophthalmologists Edward Jackson and James Thorington cycloplegic had written useful monographs on retinoscopy, but "nearly all medical writers having, naturally, written from the standpoint of physicians, that 'the use of a reliable cycloplegic is always indicated,' it has remained for opticians to devise ways and means for accurately applying the principles of this test without resorting to the use of local toxicants of any kind. This small volume has therefore been prepared for the purpose of pointing out new and better paths in practical optometry, as well as the re-blazing of old ones…"
In the 1903 book, Cross explained instrumentation and procedures for retinoscopy, optical principles, dynamic retinoscopy, and illustrative cases. He described the appearance of the retinoscopic reflex in spherical refractive errors and astigmatism, this being before the advent of streak retinoscopy. He also described the scissors Figure 1. A.J. Cross and the mirror used for retinoscopy with an attachment he develop
ed with a fixation target for dynamic retinoscopy. (from Cross AJ. A System of Ocular Skiametry. New York: Frederick Boger Publishing, 1903:41.)
_________________________________________________________
Biographical Sketches
David A. Goss, O.D., Ph.D.
School of Optometry, Indiana University,
Bloomington, IN 47405, [email protected]
ANDREW J. CROSS (1855-1925)
A.J. Cross was born in Antwerp, New York in 1855 and started doing optometric work in Visalia, California in 1876. After stops in several cities in the northwestern and then eastern United States, in 1889 he established an optometry practice in New York city. In 1898, Cross was elected president of the New York State Society of Optometrists. He was instrumental in the effort to establish an optometry licensure law in New York State. In the 1929 book History of Optometry, Arrington devoted a four page chapter to Cross in which he said that Cross "came to be known as the Grand Old Man of Optometry, - an appellation which he richly earned; for it will hardly be disputed that no single man gave of himself more fully and freely to the cause of optometry, and none had more valuable gifts to give."
In 1900-1901, Cross was president of the American Association of Opticians, the organization that became the American Optometric Association.2 He was an instructor in the optometry school at Columbia University from 1911 to 1924. He also worked on the invention of a monocentric bifocal lens.
To quote Arrington again, Cross "had a genius for expounding optical theories and facts in a way that made them simple to grasp, and study under him was a pleasure."
A.J. Cross is probably best known as being the primary developer of early dynamic retinoscopy procedures. He wrote two books on retinoscopy. The first, A System of Ocular Skiametry, (181 pages) was published in 1903. In the preface, Cross acknowledged that ophthalmologists Edward Jackson and James Thorington cycloplegic had written useful monographs on retinoscopy, but "nearly all medical writers having, naturally, written from the standpoint of physicians, that 'the use of a reliable cycloplegic is always indicated,' it has remained for opticians to devise ways and means for accurately applying the principles of this test without resorting to the use of local toxicants of any kind. This small volume has therefore been prepared for the purpose of pointing out new and better paths in practical optometry, as well as the re-blazing of old ones…"
In the 1903 book, Cross explained instrumentation and procedures for retinoscopy, optical principles, dynamic retinoscopy, and illustrative cases. He described the appearance of the retinoscopic reflex in spherical refractive errors and astigmatism, this being before the advent of streak retinoscopy. He also described the scissors Figure 1. A.J. Cross and the mirror used for retinoscopy with an attachment he develop
ed with a fixation target for dynamic retinoscopy. (from Cross AJ. A System of Ocular Skiametry. New York: Frederick Boger Publishing, 1903:41.)
CROSS, Andrew Jay: Optometrist; born Antwerp, N.Y., April 30, 1855.
_________________________________________________________
Biographical Sketches
David A. Goss, O.D., Ph.D.
School of Optometry, Indiana University,
Bloomington, IN 47405, [email protected]
ANDREW J. CROSS (1855-1925)
A.J. Cross was born in Antwerp, New York in 1855 and started doing optometric work in Visalia, California in 1876. After stops in several cities in the northwestern and then eastern United States, in 1889 he established an optometry practice in New York city. In 1898, Cross was elected president of the New York State Society of Optometrists. He was instrumental in the effort to establish an optometry licensure law in New York State. In the 1929 book History of Optometry, Arrington devoted a four page chapter to Cross in which he said that Cross "came to be known as the Grand Old Man of Optometry, - an appellation which he richly earned; for it will hardly be disputed that no single man gave of himself more fully and freely to the cause of optometry, and none had more valuable gifts to give."
In 1900-1901, Cross was president of the American Association of Opticians, the organization that became the American Optometric Association.2 He was an instructor in the optometry school at Columbia University from 1911 to 1924. He also worked on the invention of a monocentric bifocal lens.
To quote Arrington again, Cross "had a genius for expounding optical theories and facts in a way that made them simple to grasp, and study under him was a pleasure."
A.J. Cross is probably best known as being the primary developer of early dynamic retinoscopy procedures. He wrote two books on retinoscopy. The first, A System of Ocular Skiametry, (181 pages) was published in 1903. In the preface, Cross acknowledged that ophthalmologists Edward Jackson and James Thorington cycloplegic had written useful monographs on retinoscopy, but "nearly all medical writers having, naturally, written from the standpoint of physicians, that 'the use of a reliable cycloplegic is always indicated,' it has remained for opticians to devise ways and means for accurately applying the principles of this test without resorting to the use of local toxicants of any kind. This small volume has therefore been prepared for the purpose of pointing out new and better paths in practical optometry, as well as the re-blazing of old ones…"
In the 1903 book, Cross explained instrumentation and procedures for retinoscopy, optical principles, dynamic retinoscopy, and illustrative cases. He described the appearance of the retinoscopic reflex in spherical refractive errors and astigmatism, this being before the advent of streak retinoscopy. He also described the scissors Figure 1. A.J. Cross and the mirror used for retinoscopy with an attachment he develop
ed with a fixation target for dynamic retinoscopy. (from Cross AJ. A System of Ocular Skiametry. New York: Frederick Boger Publishing, 1903:41.)
_________________________________________________________
Biographical Sketches
David A. Goss, O.D., Ph.D.
School of Optometry, Indiana University,
Bloomington, IN 47405, [email protected]
ANDREW J. CROSS (1855-1925)
A.J. Cross was born in Antwerp, New York in 1855 and started doing optometric work in Visalia, California in 1876. After stops in several cities in the northwestern and then eastern United States, in 1889 he established an optometry practice in New York city. In 1898, Cross was elected president of the New York State Society of Optometrists. He was instrumental in the effort to establish an optometry licensure law in New York State. In the 1929 book History of Optometry, Arrington devoted a four page chapter to Cross in which he said that Cross "came to be known as the Grand Old Man of Optometry, - an appellation which he richly earned; for it will hardly be disputed that no single man gave of himself more fully and freely to the cause of optometry, and none had more valuable gifts to give."
In 1900-1901, Cross was president of the American Association of Opticians, the organization that became the American Optometric Association.2 He was an instructor in the optometry school at Columbia University from 1911 to 1924. He also worked on the invention of a monocentric bifocal lens.
To quote Arrington again, Cross "had a genius for expounding optical theories and facts in a way that made them simple to grasp, and study under him was a pleasure."
A.J. Cross is probably best known as being the primary developer of early dynamic retinoscopy procedures. He wrote two books on retinoscopy. The first, A System of Ocular Skiametry, (181 pages) was published in 1903. In the preface, Cross acknowledged that ophthalmologists Edward Jackson and James Thorington cycloplegic had written useful monographs on retinoscopy, but "nearly all medical writers having, naturally, written from the standpoint of physicians, that 'the use of a reliable cycloplegic is always indicated,' it has remained for opticians to devise ways and means for accurately applying the principles of this test without resorting to the use of local toxicants of any kind. This small volume has therefore been prepared for the purpose of pointing out new and better paths in practical optometry, as well as the re-blazing of old ones…"
In the 1903 book, Cross explained instrumentation and procedures for retinoscopy, optical principles, dynamic retinoscopy, and illustrative cases. He described the appearance of the retinoscopic reflex in spherical refractive errors and astigmatism, this being before the advent of streak retinoscopy. He also described the scissors Figure 1. A.J. Cross and the mirror used for retinoscopy with an attachment he develop
ed with a fixation target for dynamic retinoscopy. (from Cross AJ. A System of Ocular Skiametry. New York: Frederick Boger Publishing, 1903:41.)
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