Understanding Charles Bonnet Syndrome

10. The Discovery of CBS

The disease is named after Charles Bonnet, a Swiss naturalist and philosopher, who was the first person to describe the syndrome. In 1760, Bonnet described this syndrome and documented a range of complex visual hallucinations that occurred in psychologically sound people. He observed the symptoms in his 89-year-old grandfather who, though nearly blind from cataracts in both eyes, thought he saw men, women, birds, carriages, buildings, tapestries, physically impossible circumstances, patterns, and scaffolding.