Iridology was born in Hungary in the late nineteenth century, but already in very ancient times the observation of the eye was used in a diagnostic sense.
In traditional Chinese medicine, for example, the study of the various areas of the iris and sclera corresponded to the constituent elements of man based on the principles of acupuncture.
Modern iridology was born with the Hungarian homeopathic physician Ignazio Von Peczely, whose research originated from some personal observations, some of which date back to his childhood.
An anecdote reports that Von Peczely, at the age of eleven, captured an owl in the backyard, which, in an attempt to escape, broke a paw. The young Hungarian noticed the formation of a stain in the iris, at the point that corresponds to the leg in the topographical scheme of the iris.
This sign struck Von Peczely, who, after some time, noticed a similar phenomenon in a human iris and, thanks also to his studies in medicine, published in 1880 the text " Introduction to the study of the diagnosis through the eyes " and in 1886 the first topography of the iris.
