Early use of corrective lenses in Spanish Colonies of the Americas including parts of the future United States: Reference to Viceroy Luis de Velasco (the son)

© 2003 American Academy of Optometry.
This work has been supported in part by the “Fundación Antonio del Amo” between the Complutense University of Madrid and the University of California. The authors thank responsible individuals in the Archivo General de Indias in Seville for making available the necessary facilities. Julian Bescós of the Ramón Areces Institution in Spain facilitated much of our work. We thank Dr. Charles Letocha, York, PA, for his kind assistance and for providing communications sent to him by Dr. Carmen Tato and Prof. Vincent Ilardi for sharing his copy of Devesa. We also thank Fathers Eliseo Abejón and Félix Rodríguez of the Colegiata de San Luis at Villagarcia de Campos in Castilla. Frank Barraclough of the Ophthalmic Antiquities International Collectors Club, UK, kindly obtained valuable references and materials for us, and we appreciate important comments by Prof. Kurt Bernardo Wolf of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Cuernavaca, Mexico, and his friend/ associate Arq. Rafael Fierro Gossman of Mexico City and the valued information provided by Dr. J. William Rosenthal of New Orleans, LA.