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DR. W. H. Crisp an Appreciation
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY Published Monthly by the Ophthalmic Publishing
Company
EDITORIAL STAFF DERRICK V A I L ,
F . HERBERT HAESSLER
Editor-in-Chief
55 East Washington Street, Chicago 2
W I L L I A M H . CRISP, Consulting
Editor
530 Metropolitan Building, Denver 2
LAWRENCE T . POST, Consulting
Editor
640 South Kingshighway, Saint Louis 10 WILLIAM
L.
BENEDICT
The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
FREDERICK
C.
CORDES
384 Post Street, San Francisco 8
SIR
STEWART
DUKE-ELDER,
BRIG.
63 Harley Street, London, W . l
E D W I N B. D U N P H Y
243 Charles St., Boston, Mass.
HARRY S. GRADLE
324 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 2
S. RODMAN IRVINE
Los Angeles
DONALD J. L Y L E
904 Carew Tower, Cincinnati 2
IDA
MANN
The Eye Hospital, Oxford, England
R A L P H H . MILLER
509 Union Central Bldg., Cincinnati 2
ALGERNON B . R E E S E
73 East Seventy-first Street, New York 21
M. URIBE TRONCOSO
500 West End Avenue, N e w York 24
F . E . WOODRUFF
824 Metropolitan Building, Saint Louis 3
A L A N C. WOODS
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore 5 58 East Washington Street, Chicago 2 E M M A S. Buss, Manuscript Editor, 121 Woodbine Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois KATHERINE FERGUSON CHALKLEY, Assistant
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Manuscript
Editor,
Directors: LAWRENCE T . POST, P r e s i d e n t ; W I L L I A M L. BENEDICT, Vice-President; DONALD J. LYLE, Secretary and T r e a s u r e r ; W I L L I A M H . CRISP, HARRY S. GRADLE, DERRICK VAIL.
Address original papers, other scientific communications including correspondence, also books for review to Dr. Derrick Vail, 55 East Washington Street, Chicago 2, Illinois; Society Proceedings to Miss Emma S. Buss, 121 Woodbine Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Manuscripts should be original copies, typed in double space, with wide margins. Exchange copies of medical journals should be sent to Dr. Herbert Haessler, 324 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 2, Wisconsin. Subscriptions, application for single copies, notices of changes of address, and communications with reference to advertising should be addressed to the Manager of Subscriptions and Advertising, 837 Carew Tower, Cincinnati 2, Ohio. Copy of advertisements must be sent to the manager by the fifteenth of t h e month preceding its appearance. Authors proofs should be corrected and returned within forty-eight hours to the Manuscript Editor, Miss Emma S. Buss, 121 Woodbine Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Twenty-five reprints of each article will be supplied to the author without charge. Additional reprints may be obtained from the printer, the George Banta Publishing Company, 450-458 Ahnaip Street, Menasha, Wisconsin, if ordered at the time proofs a r e returned. But reprints to contain colored plates must be ordered when the article is accepted.
DR. W. H. CRISP AN APPRECIATION
The abstract department under Dr. Crisp's guidance has not only given the reader a rapid survey of the important Dr. William H. Crisp's editorial in the ophthalmic literature, but has lightened January issue, announcing his retirement the task of searching through the literaas editor of the abstract department, ture for knowledge on a particular subshould not go unnoticed. Only those of us who have been in close association ject. Only the combination of a brilliant with Dr. Crisp in Denver and those ac- mind, a desire for perfection, and a distively engaged in the publishing of the regard for financial considerations could Journal have any conception of the effort permit such a public-spirited accomplishthat he has expended. But anyone may ment. Dr. Crisp's ability to read many look through the ophthalmic literature languages has been a vital aid in the acand note the hundreds of original papers, curacy and completeness of the abstract brilliant editorials, and abstracts that he department. Dr. Crisp speaks of the "evening of has written and the thousands of abstracts and original papers that he has edited. life," but those of us closely associated 604
EDITORIALS with him notice no evening of mental vigor and enthusiasm. We wish him many years of successful practice and are happy that he now has more time to direct his activities to the artistic endeavors in which he has perfected, himself. We, of the Colorado Ophthalmological Society, wish publicly to express gratitude to a colleague "who worked that we might know and that patients might profit." Members of the Colorado Ophthalmological Society A NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR TRAINING IN OPHTHALMOLOGY Quite admirably, the emphasis of this Journal's editorial comments in recent months has been upon postwar training in ophthalmology. There is common agreement as to the urgency of the problem, but the conclusions as to how much may be accomplished are scarcely optimistic. World War II has intensified a problem which existed before the war. In this, as in other fields, it has accumulated demand and diminished supply. The country as a whole has never had an adequate and unified program of training in ophthalmology. Perhaps the war will make it possible for us to accomplish something which we have not achieved before. A worthy effort is that of Harvard University to provide, for a maximum of thirty postgraduate students, a twomonths course in fundamentals (much of which Lancaster reminds us can be taught by lectures, reading, and quizzes) followed by a clinical course of one month. These short programs should be stimulating to young ophthalmologists whose time was badly wasted during the war and who are eagerly looking for refresher courses. By themselves, the two Harvard courses cannot, it is obvious, create first-class ophthalmologists.
605
Vail reminds us that of fifty-nine classA medical schools not more than six are giving or are planning to give basic courses in ophthalmology. Some schools are offering courses of six or nine months. Lancaster frankly quotes the American Board of Ophthalmology as consistently urging that "short courses are an abomination-—unsound pedagogically and productive of a poor grade of practitioner." Yet short courses, rightly planned, can teach a great deal. The student who gets least out of a short course is he who has done little or no systematic reading before beginning the course. The student who has read systematically, deliberately, and intelligently may absorb much in a short time, and it is doubtful whether any student should be allowed to follow a clinic without being able to show that he has previously pursued such a thorough course of reading. This is especially true with regard to refraction, which is the economic basis of a beginning practice in ophthalmology, but which is perhaps less systematically approached by the average student than any other part of the subject. More than ever before, governments are now disposed to cooperate in the provision of education for various professions. It is obvious that the most successful utilization of this governmental tendency is likely to occur under adequate guidance and pressure from within the group of educators in ophthalmology. In spite of the general dislike for governmental interference in the field of medicine, it is probable that any relatively adequate scheme will have to depend in large measure upon government financing. It is worth the nation's while to contribute to institutional and individual financial need in pushing the educational program in ophthalmology. So far as clinical facilities are concerned, we may have to meet the emergency by accepting less of thoroughness
Company
EDITORIAL STAFF DERRICK V A I L ,
F . HERBERT HAESSLER
Editor-in-Chief
55 East Washington Street, Chicago 2
W I L L I A M H . CRISP, Consulting
Editor
530 Metropolitan Building, Denver 2
LAWRENCE T . POST, Consulting
Editor
640 South Kingshighway, Saint Louis 10 WILLIAM
L.
BENEDICT
The Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota
FREDERICK
C.
CORDES
384 Post Street, San Francisco 8
SIR
STEWART
DUKE-ELDER,
BRIG.
63 Harley Street, London, W . l
E D W I N B. D U N P H Y
243 Charles St., Boston, Mass.
HARRY S. GRADLE
324 East Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 2
S. RODMAN IRVINE
Los Angeles
DONALD J. L Y L E
904 Carew Tower, Cincinnati 2
IDA
MANN
The Eye Hospital, Oxford, England
R A L P H H . MILLER
509 Union Central Bldg., Cincinnati 2
ALGERNON B . R E E S E
73 East Seventy-first Street, New York 21
M. URIBE TRONCOSO
500 West End Avenue, N e w York 24
F . E . WOODRUFF
824 Metropolitan Building, Saint Louis 3
A L A N C. WOODS
Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore 5 58 East Washington Street, Chicago 2 E M M A S. Buss, Manuscript Editor, 121 Woodbine Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois KATHERINE FERGUSON CHALKLEY, Assistant
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Manuscript
Editor,
Directors: LAWRENCE T . POST, P r e s i d e n t ; W I L L I A M L. BENEDICT, Vice-President; DONALD J. LYLE, Secretary and T r e a s u r e r ; W I L L I A M H . CRISP, HARRY S. GRADLE, DERRICK VAIL.
Address original papers, other scientific communications including correspondence, also books for review to Dr. Derrick Vail, 55 East Washington Street, Chicago 2, Illinois; Society Proceedings to Miss Emma S. Buss, 121 Woodbine Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Manuscripts should be original copies, typed in double space, with wide margins. Exchange copies of medical journals should be sent to Dr. Herbert Haessler, 324 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 2, Wisconsin. Subscriptions, application for single copies, notices of changes of address, and communications with reference to advertising should be addressed to the Manager of Subscriptions and Advertising, 837 Carew Tower, Cincinnati 2, Ohio. Copy of advertisements must be sent to the manager by the fifteenth of t h e month preceding its appearance. Authors proofs should be corrected and returned within forty-eight hours to the Manuscript Editor, Miss Emma S. Buss, 121 Woodbine Avenue, Wilmette, Illinois. Twenty-five reprints of each article will be supplied to the author without charge. Additional reprints may be obtained from the printer, the George Banta Publishing Company, 450-458 Ahnaip Street, Menasha, Wisconsin, if ordered at the time proofs a r e returned. But reprints to contain colored plates must be ordered when the article is accepted.
DR. W. H. CRISP AN APPRECIATION
The abstract department under Dr. Crisp's guidance has not only given the reader a rapid survey of the important Dr. William H. Crisp's editorial in the ophthalmic literature, but has lightened January issue, announcing his retirement the task of searching through the literaas editor of the abstract department, ture for knowledge on a particular subshould not go unnoticed. Only those of us who have been in close association ject. Only the combination of a brilliant with Dr. Crisp in Denver and those ac- mind, a desire for perfection, and a distively engaged in the publishing of the regard for financial considerations could Journal have any conception of the effort permit such a public-spirited accomplishthat he has expended. But anyone may ment. Dr. Crisp's ability to read many look through the ophthalmic literature languages has been a vital aid in the acand note the hundreds of original papers, curacy and completeness of the abstract brilliant editorials, and abstracts that he department. Dr. Crisp speaks of the "evening of has written and the thousands of abstracts and original papers that he has edited. life," but those of us closely associated 604
EDITORIALS with him notice no evening of mental vigor and enthusiasm. We wish him many years of successful practice and are happy that he now has more time to direct his activities to the artistic endeavors in which he has perfected, himself. We, of the Colorado Ophthalmological Society, wish publicly to express gratitude to a colleague "who worked that we might know and that patients might profit." Members of the Colorado Ophthalmological Society A NATIONAL PROGRAM FOR TRAINING IN OPHTHALMOLOGY Quite admirably, the emphasis of this Journal's editorial comments in recent months has been upon postwar training in ophthalmology. There is common agreement as to the urgency of the problem, but the conclusions as to how much may be accomplished are scarcely optimistic. World War II has intensified a problem which existed before the war. In this, as in other fields, it has accumulated demand and diminished supply. The country as a whole has never had an adequate and unified program of training in ophthalmology. Perhaps the war will make it possible for us to accomplish something which we have not achieved before. A worthy effort is that of Harvard University to provide, for a maximum of thirty postgraduate students, a twomonths course in fundamentals (much of which Lancaster reminds us can be taught by lectures, reading, and quizzes) followed by a clinical course of one month. These short programs should be stimulating to young ophthalmologists whose time was badly wasted during the war and who are eagerly looking for refresher courses. By themselves, the two Harvard courses cannot, it is obvious, create first-class ophthalmologists.
605
Vail reminds us that of fifty-nine classA medical schools not more than six are giving or are planning to give basic courses in ophthalmology. Some schools are offering courses of six or nine months. Lancaster frankly quotes the American Board of Ophthalmology as consistently urging that "short courses are an abomination-—unsound pedagogically and productive of a poor grade of practitioner." Yet short courses, rightly planned, can teach a great deal. The student who gets least out of a short course is he who has done little or no systematic reading before beginning the course. The student who has read systematically, deliberately, and intelligently may absorb much in a short time, and it is doubtful whether any student should be allowed to follow a clinic without being able to show that he has previously pursued such a thorough course of reading. This is especially true with regard to refraction, which is the economic basis of a beginning practice in ophthalmology, but which is perhaps less systematically approached by the average student than any other part of the subject. More than ever before, governments are now disposed to cooperate in the provision of education for various professions. It is obvious that the most successful utilization of this governmental tendency is likely to occur under adequate guidance and pressure from within the group of educators in ophthalmology. In spite of the general dislike for governmental interference in the field of medicine, it is probable that any relatively adequate scheme will have to depend in large measure upon government financing. It is worth the nation's while to contribute to institutional and individual financial need in pushing the educational program in ophthalmology. So far as clinical facilities are concerned, we may have to meet the emergency by accepting less of thoroughness