Paul Bailliart attended school at Besançon and entered the military medical school at Lyon, and acted as an army surgeon from 1902 to 1907 when he went to Paris and initially worked with Morax. His contributions to ophthalmology were widespread; and he produced three books of great merit: the *Traité d'ophtalmologie* (1939) with Magitot, the *Manuel d'ophtalmologie* (1950), and *Les affections de la rétine* (1933). In 1950 he was presented with the Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons while attending the International Congress for Ophthalmologists. His chief interest lay in the retina and his technique of ophthalmodynamometry brought him fame throughout the specialty. He and his wife were well-known for their delightful garden parties, where you met the ophthalmic world as you ate and drank under the trees. If you were invited to one of these parties you had entered the highest ophthalmic circle. He had a long, full and happy life with his devoted wife who predeceased him. He died in 1969.