In 1913 Edward Leroy Oatman, a surgeon at Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital, published (posthumously) Diagnostics of the Fundus Oculi . This work consisted of three volumes containing 79 stereograms, 234 illustrations, and 8 diagnostic cards covering the ocular fundus in normal and diseased conditions. This was the first use of stereoscopy to illustrate retinal pathology.

Considering that the first practical stereoscopic photographs were not to be available for almost 20 years, the question has always been how these stereograms were produced. Recent evidence presented at a Cogan Ophthalmic History Society meeting suggests that one of the stereo pair was meticulously copied from its fellow by hand, moving elements slightly to the left or right to produce the disparity necessary to elicit a sensation of depth when viewed binocularly. This was a formidable undertaking by an ophthalmologist otherwise in private practice.

Submitted by Steven A. Newman and H. Stanley Thompson from the Cogan Ophthalmic History Society.