also described by the Iraqi ophthalmologist Ammar Al-Mawsili, in his Choice of Eye Diseases, also written in the 10th century. He presented case histories of its use, claiming to have had success with it on a number of patients. Extracting the lens has the benefit of removing the possibility of the lens migrating back into the field of vision. A later variant of the cataract needle in 14th-century Egypt, reported by the oculist Al-Shādhili, used a screw to grip the lens. It is not clear how often, if ever, this method was used, as other writers, including Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi and Al-Shadhili, appear to have been unfamiliar with this procedure or claimed it was ineffective. Eighteenth and nineteenth centuries In 1748, Jacques Daviel was the first modern European physician to successfully extract cataracts from the eye, removing the cataract from the capsule through a corneal incision with about 50% success rate. In 1753 the first recorded surgical removal of the entire lens and lens capsule was done by Samuel Sharp. The lens was removed from the eye through a limbal incision. In America, cataract couching may have been performed in 1611, and cataract extraction was most likely performed by 1776. Cataract extraction by aspiration of lens material through a tube to which suction is applied was performed by Philadelphia surgeon Philip Syng Physick in 1815. King Serfoji II Bhonsle of Thanjavur in India performed cataract surgeries in the early 1800s, documented in manuscripts at the Saraswathi Mahal Library. Twentieth century to present At the beginning of the 20th century the standard procedure was intracapsular cataract extraction (ICCE). The work of Henry Smith was influential as he had developed a safe and fast way to remove the lens within its capsule by external manipulation. The capsule forceps, the discovery of enzymatic zonulysis by Joaquin Barraquer in 1957, and the introduction of cryoextraction of the lens by T. Krawicz and Charles Kelman in 1961 helped continue the development of ICCE. Inracapsular cryoextraction using a probe tip cooled by liquid nitrogen to freeze the encapsulated lens to the probe was the favored form of cataract extraction from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. In 1949, Harold Ridley introduced the concept of implantation of the intraocular lens which made more efficient and comfortable visual rehabilitation possible after cataract surgery. Artificial intraocular lenses (IOLs) are used to replace the eye's natural lens that is