Main Entry: Ar·gyll Rob·ert·son pupil

Pronunciation: \är-ˌgīl-ˈräb-ərt-sən-\

Function: noun

: a pupil characteristic of neurosyphilis that fails to react to light but still reacts in accommodation to distance

Robertson, Douglas Argyll (1837–1909), British ophthalmologist. The leading ophthalmologist in Scotland, Robertson specialized in the physiology and diseases of the eye. He published more than fifty medical papers on such topics as etiology of glaucoma, retinitis pigmentosa, and hydrophthalmos. In 1869 he produced his most significant contribution, an article concerned with accommodation in miosis associated with spinal diseases. Robertson was also a popular teacher, and the naming of the condition in his honor gave rise to the quip that it was “far better to be an Argyll Robertson pupil than to have one.”