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Dr. Francesc Bordàs' equipment

Dr. Enric Mateu Bordàs’ donation comprises equipment used in clinical and surgical practice; exploration, diagnosis, therapeutics and intervention gear; iconographic records regarding professional practice; and printed paperwork from the exercise of ophthalmology and including brochures and instruction manuals for some instruments used in everyday practice. From the whole of the donation, it is worth to highlight the input of devices that allow drawing the historical evolution, along the first two thirds of the 20th century, of certain objects, such as glass frames and test lenses, indentation tonometers, ophthalmoscopes, estesiometers, etc., together with a great number of surgical and exploration instruments.

Most of the donated devices come from Dr. Francesc Bordàs Salellas (1882-1960), Dr. Mateu’s uncle’s ophthalmologic practice, one of the representative figures of the Catalan ophthalmologic school, consolidated in the first third of the 20th century, and Dr. Josep Antoni Barraquer i Roviralta’s disciple. Dr. Bordàs was one of the heads of the outpatients’ department–ophthalmologic service at Sant Pau’s Hospital, until 1953, though his medical practice included an exhaustive exercise in other private institutions, as well as associations. Author of an interesting historical account of early century Catalan ophthalmology, Dr. Bordàs published remarkable works where he exposed not only his clinical practice, but also his initiative and skill towards the creation and availability of appropriate equipment for its exercise.

We illustrate the whole of the donation with part of the equipment he used to execute dacryocystorhinostomy. On the one hand, the portable electric motor manufactured by German manufacturers Radex Zwecke in the 1930s, firstly devised for odontologists, but quite useful for other professionals due to its weightlessness and functional nature. In fact, Dr. Bordàs himself in order to facilitate starting and control operations modified the device. On the other hand, the array of handle and drills used for dacryostomy, Dr. Bordàs’ and Dr. Manuel Burch’s genuinely original contribution in search of solutions for this technique, as they showed in their 1944 and 1960 publications. These examples illustrate, therefore, the whole of the donation, while also point to those physicians’ contribution and technical re-working capabilities through the creation process triggered by everyday practice equipment needs.