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Clinical, structural, and biochemical advances in hereditary eye disorders
346
Surv Ophthalmol
27(5) March-April
1983
In general, I think this is an excellent handbook that will probably be useful for all ophthalmologists to have on hand for quick consultation when an external disease emergency arises. PENNY
A. ASBELL
Manual of Ophthalmic Terminology, by Harold A. Stein, Bernard J. Slatt and Penny Cook. St. Louis, The C. V. Mosby Company, 1982,269 pp., illus. Price: $17.50. This book presents a simplified glossary of ophthalmic terms in twelve specific subject areas, plus a miscellaneous group. The twelve clinical categories are: anatomy and surgical intervention, optics and refraction, contact lenses, spectacles, cornea, ocular motility and strabismus, retina and vitreous, glaucoma, ocular tumors, neuro-ophthalmology, ophthalmic tests and devices and ophthalmic drugs and toxic substances. Each of these chapters is introduced by 5-10 pages of highly condensed narrative, tracing a few salient historical points and then emphasizing the root stems and words used in that subject area. This achieves a highly condensed text booklet for ophthalmic assistants, secretaries, office staff and medical students not pursuing deep investigation in the specialty. This approach goes beyond the cold catalog of a dictionary by grouping terms within subject areas and sketching an umbrella over the field. The format, devoid ofexpensive color illustration and containing only a few halftones, should prove popular for its purposes. Every specialist, historian, or linguist will find offenses to his or her subtle sensitivities of shading. I regret that “paucity” and “absence” are confused (as in the discussion of hypoxia vs. anoxia) and that “alkali” and “alkloid” do not get distinct identity. I would place Meibomian glands in the eyelids rather than the eyeball and use “poliosis” rather than “absent lashes” with Vogt-Koyanagi uveitis. Several terms apparently stem from old conventions of the British Commonwealth and lead to confusion even in other English speaking nations: e.g., “optic chancres in the basement membrane,” “jaconet, ” “soule.” Some paragraphs and definitions are by design duplicated, such as the outline of refractive kerato-
BOOK REVIEWS plasty which appears both in an early chapter on anatomy and surgical intervention as well as in a later chapter on the cornea. Though purity still dictates the second “n” in Goldmann’s name and “r” in the names of Von Arlt and Purtscher, it is essential in the next printing that Fig. 12-9 be labelled Lancaster screen rather than Hess screen, that Fig. 12-17 be indicated as the Hardy modification rather than the Worth 4 Dot test, and that amphotericin be indicated for intravenous rather than intramuscular use. In the world of Allied Health Personnel, this book will be popular and will grow to fill a genuine need. In future additions, I hope the authors will abandon vacillation and firmly place nouns as the first word in a glossary, with adjectives following, capitalize eponyms, and safeguard their book from reviews by those who have hopeless addiction to the blue pencil. ARTHUR H. KEENEY
Clinical, Structural, and Biochemical Advances in Hereditary Eye Disorders, edited by Donna L. Daentl. New York, Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1982, 184 pp. Price: $38.00. This short volume represents the proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium of the Society of Craniofacial Genetics. The date of the symposium was 1980. As the editor mentions in the preface, some of the papers were updated prior to publication. The book is a collection of nine papers dealing with various topics related to hereditary eye diseases. Topics covered include ocular morphogenesis, macular cornea1 dystrophy, conjunctival biopsy in lysosomal disorders, gyrate atrophy, and retinitis pigmentosa. For the most part, the papers are well written, well referenced, concise, and informative. There is a positive correlation between those qualities and the updating, those chapters covering the literature into 1981 being the most organized and informative. Illustrations, photomicrographs, and tables are of good quality and are consistent with and proportionate to the text. This volume is recommended to those interested in the topics covered. ROBERT RITCH
Surv Ophthalmol
27(5) March-April
1983
In general, I think this is an excellent handbook that will probably be useful for all ophthalmologists to have on hand for quick consultation when an external disease emergency arises. PENNY
A. ASBELL
Manual of Ophthalmic Terminology, by Harold A. Stein, Bernard J. Slatt and Penny Cook. St. Louis, The C. V. Mosby Company, 1982,269 pp., illus. Price: $17.50. This book presents a simplified glossary of ophthalmic terms in twelve specific subject areas, plus a miscellaneous group. The twelve clinical categories are: anatomy and surgical intervention, optics and refraction, contact lenses, spectacles, cornea, ocular motility and strabismus, retina and vitreous, glaucoma, ocular tumors, neuro-ophthalmology, ophthalmic tests and devices and ophthalmic drugs and toxic substances. Each of these chapters is introduced by 5-10 pages of highly condensed narrative, tracing a few salient historical points and then emphasizing the root stems and words used in that subject area. This achieves a highly condensed text booklet for ophthalmic assistants, secretaries, office staff and medical students not pursuing deep investigation in the specialty. This approach goes beyond the cold catalog of a dictionary by grouping terms within subject areas and sketching an umbrella over the field. The format, devoid ofexpensive color illustration and containing only a few halftones, should prove popular for its purposes. Every specialist, historian, or linguist will find offenses to his or her subtle sensitivities of shading. I regret that “paucity” and “absence” are confused (as in the discussion of hypoxia vs. anoxia) and that “alkali” and “alkloid” do not get distinct identity. I would place Meibomian glands in the eyelids rather than the eyeball and use “poliosis” rather than “absent lashes” with Vogt-Koyanagi uveitis. Several terms apparently stem from old conventions of the British Commonwealth and lead to confusion even in other English speaking nations: e.g., “optic chancres in the basement membrane,” “jaconet, ” “soule.” Some paragraphs and definitions are by design duplicated, such as the outline of refractive kerato-
BOOK REVIEWS plasty which appears both in an early chapter on anatomy and surgical intervention as well as in a later chapter on the cornea. Though purity still dictates the second “n” in Goldmann’s name and “r” in the names of Von Arlt and Purtscher, it is essential in the next printing that Fig. 12-9 be labelled Lancaster screen rather than Hess screen, that Fig. 12-17 be indicated as the Hardy modification rather than the Worth 4 Dot test, and that amphotericin be indicated for intravenous rather than intramuscular use. In the world of Allied Health Personnel, this book will be popular and will grow to fill a genuine need. In future additions, I hope the authors will abandon vacillation and firmly place nouns as the first word in a glossary, with adjectives following, capitalize eponyms, and safeguard their book from reviews by those who have hopeless addiction to the blue pencil. ARTHUR H. KEENEY
Clinical, Structural, and Biochemical Advances in Hereditary Eye Disorders, edited by Donna L. Daentl. New York, Alan R. Liss, Inc., 1982, 184 pp. Price: $38.00. This short volume represents the proceedings of the Third Annual Symposium of the Society of Craniofacial Genetics. The date of the symposium was 1980. As the editor mentions in the preface, some of the papers were updated prior to publication. The book is a collection of nine papers dealing with various topics related to hereditary eye diseases. Topics covered include ocular morphogenesis, macular cornea1 dystrophy, conjunctival biopsy in lysosomal disorders, gyrate atrophy, and retinitis pigmentosa. For the most part, the papers are well written, well referenced, concise, and informative. There is a positive correlation between those qualities and the updating, those chapters covering the literature into 1981 being the most organized and informative. Illustrations, photomicrographs, and tables are of good quality and are consistent with and proportionate to the text. This volume is recommended to those interested in the topics covered. ROBERT RITCH