Ophthalmology (1885-1886)

 Despite taking courses under medicine, Rizal did not submit his doctoral thesis.
 Because of his mother’s ailing eyesight, he decided to study ophthalmology.
 He went to Paris to study under Dr. Louis de Wecker for four months, from November
1885 to February 1886. 
o Dr. De Wecker was a renowned ophthalmologist during Rizal’s time.
o Rizal learned various types of ophthalmologic surgeries from Dr. De Wecker,
including the cataract-surgery technique he used to treat his mother. 
o According to Guererro’s The First Filipino, Rizal was remembered as a “refined, friendly, and
industrious man held in high regard by Dr. De Wecker and his colleagues”
o In a letter dated January 1886, he could claim that he had mastered the
technique of eye operations. Every day, fifty to a hundred patients were being
treated, and ten major operations were performed at Dr. De Wecker’s clinic
 He then went to Germany to continue his ophthalmological studies under Otto Becker at
the University of Heidelberg for six months, from February to July of 1886.
o Dr. Becker was a pioneer in ophthalmic pathology (the study of causes and
effects of diseases in the eye)
o In a letter to his family, he informs them that Dr. Becker was “not as famous nor
as great a surgeon as Dr. De Wecker.” However, “he enjoys a great reputation in
Germany, and he has written many works.”
o It was here in Heidelberg Rizal spent half his day on eye studies, and the other
half learning German (under Dr. Ullmer).
 In his later years, ophthalmology was a skill of which Rizal. He then practiced
ophthalmology) in Calamba, Hong Kong, and while in exile in Dapitan.

Rizal’s Stay in Germany

 By February 1886, he was studying ophthalmology under the supervision of Dr. Otto
Becker. He was likely enrolled in the University of Heidelberg in the Faculty of Law. (This
is according to Rafael Palma, who wrote “Pride of the Malay Race: A Biography of Jose Rizal).
 Rizal dropped his registration shortly after registering in the University, more likely to
finish writing his novel, Noli Me Tangere.
 On July 31, 1886, Rizal started a correspondence with Dr. Fernandinand Blumentritt, an
Austrian intellect who specialized in Asian Studies. He wrote to him about how he
admired his work. This went on until Rizal and Blumentritt became lifelong close friends,
companions. 
 In August 1886, Rizal left Heidelberg and went to Leipzig, because of cheaper living
costs. It was here where he also met Dr. Fedor Jaegor, whose work Rizal had read ten
years earlier – the “Travels of the Philippines.”
 In November 1886, Rizal went to Berlin.
 On a letter dated November 14, Blumentritt replied to Rizal that he should visit the Royal
Library and the German Museum to discover works concerning with the Philippines.
These were namely the Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas by Antonio De Morga, and
Historia de las Islas Mindanao, Jalo y sus adyacentes [Events of the Philippine Islands
of Mindanao, Joló and their adjacents] which were apparently very rare. 
 During his stay in Berlin, Rizal was also introduced to a number of books and of
anthropologists (such as Dr. Rudolf Virchow).
He would then later on go to Dresden, to see the famous “Museo Etnographico”, and he met Dr.
A. B. Mayor, the Filipinologist director of the museum. Rizal and Viola later on visited various
places in Germany, such as Munich, Nuremberg, Ulm and Stuttgart.

Noli Me Tangere

 In January 1884, with discussions of the re-organization of the Circulo-Hispano-Filipino,

Rizal proposed a collective book about Philippine life and culture to his fellow reformists.
He wanted to introduce the Filipino race to Europeans.
 The plan was enthusiastically received – there was eagerness to write about “The
Filipina Woman”, but other subjects were dropped. Nothing became of the project.
 However the idea of writing a novel had grown on Rizal, which would later on result in
the Noli Me Tangere.
 Rizal wanted to win the recognition of the Filipino race through the creation of a novel.
Inspired by (realist) authors such as Harriet Beecher Stowe (an American author who
wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin) and Eugene Sue (a French novelist who wrote The
Wandering Jew), he wanted “to picture the past” and “the realities of my native country.” 
 Rizal had completed half of the Noli Me Tangere in Madrid, a fourth portion in Paris, and
the remainder in Germany, where it was completed on February 21,1887.  The first
batch of the Noli was printed in Berlin around March 1887.
 Dr. Maximo Viola is a notable person who helped in the publication of the Noli Me
Tangere. He is notable because he funded the publication of the novel by lending 300
pesos for an initial 2,000 copies of the book. To express his gratitude, Rizal gave him the
first published and autographed copy of the book, corrected galley proofs, and the pen
that he used to write the novel. 

Conclusion
After five years of study, Rizal was determined to return home. Despite warnings from numerous people
– such as Blumentritt and his brother, Paciano – he decided to come home. On July 3, 1887, Rizal
boarded the Djemnah – the same boat he boarded five years ago – via the Suez Canal. He transferred to
the Haiphong in Saigon on July 30 of the same year, and he arrived back to Manila in August 6, 1887.

Rizal in painting: a journal from Jama Ophthalmology 2001

Heidelberg: a photo from the e-book of The Story of Jose Rizal by Austin Craig
Leizpig: this is a photo of Markt, Leipzig, taken in 1882

Berlin: this is a photo of the Royal Library, taken in the 1900s because I was unable to find an earlier
picture

Source: The Story of Jose Rizal by Austin Craig, letters of Rizal, The First Filipino by Ma. Leon Guerrero,
direct letters, Jose Rizal and the Quest for Filipino Independence and the Search for Ultimate Reality and
Meaning by Mark DeStephano

Philippine Journal of Opthalmology, JAMA Opthalmology