Editing Sunglasses (section)

=== Other precursors ===
[[Pliny the Elder]] claimed that the Roman emperor [[Nero]] liked to watch [[gladiator]] fights using cut [[emerald]]s. These, however, appear to have worked rather like mirrors.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plin.+Nat.+37.16|title=Pliny the Elder, The Natural History, Book XXXVII, Ch. 16|publisher=Perseus.tufts.edu|access-date=2010-05-13}}</ref>

The first sunglasses, made from flat panes of [[smoky quartz]] called ''Ai Tai (靉靆),'' meaning "dark clouds,"<ref name="Science Museum Blog 2019">{{cite web | title=9 surprising moments in the history of sunglasses | website=Science Museum Blog | date=2019-05-07 | url=https://blog.sciencemuseum.org.uk/9-surprising-moments-in-the-history-of-sunglasses/ | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref> which offered no corrective powers but did protect the eyes from [[Glare (vision)|glare]], were used in [[China]] in the 12th century or possibly earlier. Documents describe the use of such crystal sunglasses by judges in ancient Chinese [[court]]s to conceal their facial expressions while questioning witnesses.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/sunglasses.htm|title=Sunglasses History – The Invention of Sunglasses|access-date=2007-06-28|last=Ament|first=Phil|date=2006-12-04|work=The Great Idea Finder|publisher=Vaunt Design Group|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703224202/http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/sunglasses.htm|archive-date=2007-07-03}}</ref><ref name="Vision">{{cite web | last=Vision | first=Website | title=Torquay Museum | website=Torquay Museum | url=http://www.torquaymuseum.org/explore/collections-spotlight/explorers/chinese-sunglasses | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref>

In 1459, Nuno Fernandes made a request for a pair of spectacles to protect the eyes while horseriding in the snow against the glare coming from the snow, though no description of any actual spectacles is given.<ref name="College">{{cite web | last=Handley | first=Neil | title=Sunglasses | website=[[College of Optometrists]] | date=1914-09-18 | url=https://www.college-optometrists.org/the-college/museum/online-exhibitions/virtual-spectacles-gallery/sunglasses.html | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref>

King [[Louis XIV]]'s court watched the [[solar eclipse of May 12, 1706|1706 solar eclipse]] through a [[Astronomical filter#Solar filters|telescope with a smoky glass filter attached]].<ref name="Thieme 2017">{{cite web | last=Thieme | first=Nick | title=A Brief History of Eclipse Glasses and the People Who Forgot to Wear Them | website=Slate Magazine | date=2017-08-18 | url=https://slate.com/technology/2017/08/a-history-of-eclipse-glasses-and-injuries.html | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref>

By the 18th century, tinted, mirror-like framed [[Murano glass]]es had been used as so-called "gondola glasses" (''vetri da gondola'' and also ''da dama'') by [[Venice|Venetian]] women and children, to shield their eyes from the glare from the water in the canals. The [[Doge (title)|Doge]] and other well-off Venetians, such as possibly [[Goldoni]], sported, in the late 18th century, so-called "goldoni glasses," tinted pairs of spectacles with pieces of cloth as sun guards on the sides of the glasses.<ref name="Venetian Cat">{{cite web | title=Ancient Designer Sunglasses, a Playwright and a War Hero | website=Venetian Cat | date=16 June 2014 | url=https://venetiancat.blogspot.com/2014/06/venetians-put-on-show-spectacles-fit.html | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref><ref name="College"/>

[[James Ayscough]] began experimenting with tinted lenses in spectacles around 1752. These were not "sunglasses" as that term is now used; Ayscough believed that blue- or green-tinted glass could correct for specific vision impairments. Protection from the sun's rays was not a concern for him.

[[File:Zoom lunette ardente.jpg|thumb|[[Antoine Lavoisier]] conducting an experiment related to combustion generated by amplified sun light]]

One of the earliest surviving depictions of a person wearing sunglasses is one from 1772 of the scientist [[Antoine Lavoisier]], who worked with amplified sunlight. By the 19th century, tinted spectacles were worn by railway travelers.<ref name="Science Museum Group Collection 2021">{{cite web | title=Turn pin spectacles with tinted, double folding lenses, France, 1790-1850 | website=Science Museum Group Collection | date=2021-08-07 | url=https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co151206/turn-pin-spectacles-with-tinted-double-folding-lenses-france-1790-1850-spectacles | access-date=2021-08-07}}</ref>

Popularly, it is claimed that yellow/amber and brown-tinted glasses had been used to alleviate symptoms of [[syphilis]] in the 19th and early 20th centuries, because sensitivity to light was one of the symptoms of the disease, although no sources have been found that state prescription of such.<ref name="Dr Lindsey Fitzharris 2013">{{cite web | title=Ray-Ban's Predecessor? A Brief History of Tinted Spectacles | website=Dr Lindsey Fitzharris | date=2013-06-21 | url=https://www.drlindseyfitzharris.com/2013/06/21/ray-bans-predecessor-a-brief-history-of-tinted-spectacles/ | access-date=2021-08-07 | archive-date=2021-07-04 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210704114414/https://www.drlindseyfitzharris.com/2013/06/21/ray-bans-predecessor-a-brief-history-of-tinted-spectacles/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

From the late 19th century, short references of sunglasses have been found in reports, such as one from 1866 by [[Walter Alden Dyer|Walter Alden]], who wrote of soldiers using, during the American Civil War (1861–1865), "shell spectacles" ("verres de cocquille") to protect against sunlight on long marches, or by the British T. Longmore reporting in ''The Optical Manual'' (1885) of soldiers in Egypt being equipped with tinted glass "eye protectors." By 1895, sunglasses were mentioned in advertisements, such as in ''The Sioux City Journal''.<ref name="College"/>