BOOK REVIEWS
1012
4-diamino pyrimidines on toxoplasmosis. Pub. Health Rep., 67:249 (Mar.) 1952. 4. : Synergistic effect of sulfadiazine and Daraprim against experimental toxoplasmosis in mouse. Antibiot. & Chemotherap., 3:483 (May) 1953. 5. Kaufman, H. and Geisler, P.: The hémato logie toxicity of Daraprim in man. AMA Arch. Ophth., 64:140 (July) 1960. 6. Grisham, R.: Central nervous system toxicity of pyrimethamine in man. Am. J. Ophth., 54:1119 (Dec.) 1962. 7. Forbes, S.: Ocular toxoplasmosis. Am. J. Ophth. 44:41 (July) 1957. 8. Frenkel, J. K., and Jacobs, L.: Ocular toxo plasmosis. AMA Arch. Ophth., 59:260 (Feb.) 1958. 9. Cassady, J. V.: Toxoplasmic uveitis. AMA Arch. Ophth., 58:209 (Aug.) 1957. 10. Schmidt, L. H., Hughes, H. B., and Schmidt, I.: The pharmacologie properties of Daraprim. J. Pharm. & Exper. Therap., 107:88-92 (Jan.) 1953.
BOOK REVIEWS OPHTHALMOLOGY IN THE TROPICS. By
E.
J. Somerset. London, Balliere, Tindall and Cox, 1962. 166 pages, 60 illustrations, two color plates, index. Available in the United States from Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, Maryland. Price: $8.50. Prof. Somerset, major (retired), Indian Medical Service, and formerly professor of ophthalmology, Medical College, Calcutta, India, gives us the benefit of his many years of wide experience in the practice of oph thalmology in India in this short but most interesting handbook. This is an important and timely contribu tion. In these days of a shrunken world (and perhaps shrinking heads) diseases hitherto considered to be limited to the tropics are being observed everywhere in increasing numbers. Almost all of these "tropical dis eases" can directly or indirectly affect the eye. It is therefore our concern to know more than we do about these diseases even if we do not live in the tropics. The first chapter consists of general con siderations of the subject, with particular reference to the differences between tropical and nontropical conditions and why these differences occur. The second chapter discusses traumatic
conditions such as are caused by bites and stings of exotic and not so exotic creatures so abundantly to be found in the tropics. Snakes, tipcat (game) and the eclipses of the sun (sacred) are villians. The ophthal mic itinerant quack (Hakim) shares in these traumas. The chapter on vitamin deficiencies is par ticularly sound and good and contains little nonsense. Trachoma is always a perennial subject when one speaks on tropical dis eases. Somerset's discussion reveals his valid knowledge and experience, as does his chap ter on leprosy. The other chapters are con cerned with intestinal infections (dysentery, cholera), malaria, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, filarial infections, yaws, ocular myiasis and epidemic dropsy. All this makes for fascinating and fruit ful reading. One can easily agree with the author who says about his book, "It should be useful to ophthalmic surgeons working in the tropics, or who are about to go to a tropical country, and to medical men inter ested in tropical medicine, who wish to know more about its ophthalmological aspects." Derrick Vail. ATLAS OF TOPOGRAPHICAL AND APPLIED H U M A N ANATOMY: VOLUME I. By Ed
uard Pernkopf. Edited by Dr. Helmut Ferner. Translated from German by Dr. Harry Monsen. Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Company, 1963. 356 pages, 332 illustrations, most in color. Price: $32.50 The first volume of this atlas pertains to the head and neck ; the second volume will be issued in January, 1964, and is concerned with the thorax, abdomen and extremities. The volumes originate from the outstanding anatomic preparations and drawings of Vi enna and are beautifully executed in color. Labelled pictures of skull roentgenograms are correlated with the normal anatomy and muscle insertions ; the findings of carotid arteriography and the vasculature of the brain are similarly correlated. The illustra tions of the anatomy of the brain and blood
BOOK REVIEWS supply are magnificently done. T h e sections devoted to the eye and orbit are fairly ortho dox and probably not as useful as illustra tions by Wolff and Duke-Elder. Each of the drawings is, however, a work of art and the atlas is certain to be of lasting value in teaching and anatomic review. F r a n k W . Newell.
OCULAR
SURGERY.
By
H.
Arruga,
M.D.
Second English edition translated from the fourth Spanish edition by M. J. Hogan and L. E . Chaparro. New York, McGrawHill Book Company, Ltd., 1962. 977 pages, 1328 illustrations, references, au thor and subject indexes. Price: $49.50. There are few ophthalmic surgeons not familiar with A r r u g a ' s Ocular Surgery. It has been in such great demand both in the Spanish and English editions, that new and later editions have had to be published. O n e will find here all of the famous and meticulous illustrations that are now so fa miliar, as well as many new ones. T h e text, too, has been modified and enlarged to bring in new things. A chapter on muscle surgery has been in corporated. It was written by the author's son, Alfredo, a most worthy chip off the old block. It is very good and sound. T h e translators have repeated the excel lent job they did on the first English edi tion and are to be commended. This is a fine book for study and re peated reference. It reflects the great skill of a master ophthalmic surgeon and is a guidepost to superb eye surgery. Derrick Vail. VERBALISM
AMONG
BLIND
CHILDREN.
By
Randall K. Harley, Jr., P h . D . N e w York, American Foundation for the Blind, 1963. 61 pages, bibliography. Paperbound. Price: 80fi Verbalism, in the technical sense used, means that the blind child can give an ac ceptable definition of a word though he can
1013
not identify the object symbolized by it. It results from insufficient sensory experience of the child with his environment. In this doctoral thesis, Harley studied 40 children, totally blind from birth, ranging from six to 14 years of age. T h e child was asked if he had heard, felt, tasted or smelled the object represented by the word. T h e children were then asked to identify the object represented by the word by tactual, olfactory or gusta tory means. In 77.5 percent of the cases, the children were able to identify items with which they claimed previous sensory experi ence. There was no significant relationship between verbalism and personal adjustment, but significant correlations were discovered between verbalism and chronologic age, in telligence and experience. Children below normal intellectually have the greatest need of a curriculum that provides a maximum of real, vivid, practical experiences dealing with concepts appropriate to their development. Brighter children are better equipped to think abstractly and to build meaningful concepts from a narrower base of environ mental contacts. James E. Lebensohn. M A Y ' S M A N U A L OF T H E D I S E A S E S OF T H E
E Y E . By James H . Allen, M.D. Baltimore, Maryland, Williams & Wilkins Company, 1963, 23rd edition. 382 pages. Price: $9.25. In his preface to the first edition of this now classic textbook, D r . M a y expressed his desire to "present a concise, practical and systematic Manual of the Diseases of the E y e . " This was in 1900, and he did just that. Now, 63 years and 23 editions later, Dr. Allen carries on this fine tradition. I n less than 400 pages, he manages to guide the student on a lucid, beautifully illustrated, remarkably complete and most enjoyable tour of ophthalmology. T h u s he fulfills Dr. May's criterion of "saying enough but not too much." This is the sort of approach which endears an author to the busy medical student. Thomas H . F . Chalkley.