Margaret Darst Corbett (January 17, 1889 – December 5, 1962)[1] was an American who promoted the discredited Bates method in an attempt to improve eyesight.

Corbett was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on January 17, 1889, to Edward Washington Darst and his wife Minnie Ann.

[2] In late 1940 Corbett and her assistant were charged with violations of the Medical Practice Act of California for treating eyes without a licence.

A bill was introduced into the Californian State Legislature to outlaw such vision education by any practitioner who lacked an optometric or medical license.

Speaking of her work, amongst others, Philip Pollack wroteTo anyone trained in the science of vision, the ignorance and the sheer absurdity of ideas explained in these books are appalling.

The authors by-pass completely the discoveries and the experimental findings of such celebrated scientists and ophthalmologists as Helmholtz, Tscherning, Young, Maddox, Gullstrand, Donders, Duke-Elder, Fincham, etc.