Was Bozzini's Lichtleiter forgotten after Vienna, or only neglected? probable

Positions

1. A half-century eclipse

   On the usual account the instrument fell from view after the Vienna rejection. Ségalas's speculum came 20 years later and Desormeaux's endoscope 47 years later; the Medical University of Vienna leaflet says half a century was to pass. Desormeaux's lectures appear to trace the field only to Ségalas, which suggests Bozzini had been forgotten in Paris; this rests on a search of an OCR text and is probable.

   Sources

   1. Medical University of Vienna alumni leaflet, December 2008 (archived) Museum or society
   2. Desormeaux, The Endoscope, and its Application to the Diagnosis and Treatment of Affections of the Genito-urinary Passages, tr. R. P. Hunt (Chicago, 1867) Primary

2. Neglected, but in use

   Figdor's archival research, reported by the EAU, found that the Lichtleiter was probably the most frequently used endoscope in the first quarter of the nineteenth century and remained in use up to mid-century. In 1865 Morell Mackenzie named it the first laryngoscope.

   Sources

   1. EAU History Office: Bozzini and the Lichtleiter Museum or society
   2. Stricker, Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie vol. 3 (1876): Bozzini, Philipp (Wikisource) Secondary
   3. Hock, Frankfurter Personenlexikon (2014): Bozzini, Philipp Secondary

Evidence

Practical objections were real: candle heat with a risk of burns, weak light, soot, and a field of view no larger than a small spot. Critics called the instrument impracticable, not useful and even dangerous. Against a total eclipse stand Figdor's findings and Mackenzie's recognition; for one stand the long gap before Ségalas and Desormeaux and Desormeaux's apparent silence about Bozzini.

Current standing

The dossier recommends 'neglected rather than vanished'. The film does not claim a total eclipse: it moves from the Vienna verdict and Bozzini's death to Ségalas in 1826 without describing what happened to the instrument in between.

All sources