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Grundriss der Refractions- und Brillenlehre für Studierende und Ärzte
240
EDITORIALS
against this dogma. Elschnig finds many patients in whom bilateral ex traction is to be recommended. With Zentner (Archiv fur Augenheilkunde, volume 98, part 3) he records this procedure in five hundred and seventyeight patients during the period from 1911 to 1925. This number does not include fifty-three patients in whom both eyes were operated upon simul taneously during 1925 by the Barraquer method. The 578 patients, or 1156 eyes, included 698 incipient or immature cataracts, 273 mature or approximately so, and 184 hypermature. Simple extraction on both eyes was done in 344 cases, simple in one eye and combined in the other 141 cases, and combined extraction in both eyes in 143 cases. If vitreous prolapse occurred in the first eye, the second was not proceeded with at that time. In the presence of any hint of psychic distur bance, at least one and often both eyes were left open after the first twenty-four hours. Eight eyes were lost, seven from wound suppuration, one through expul sive hemorrhage. In this single case of expulsive hemorrhage the accident was unilateral, in a decrepit patient of seventy-eight years with hypermature cataract in both eyes. The following precautions were ad hered to rigidly: (1) preliminary exami nation, and treatment in case of need (circulation, heart, kidney, digestive tract, tonsils, teeth, and so on); (2) sterility of the conjunctival sac; (3) mental quietude, obtained by adminis tering a sedative one hour before opera tion; (4) in the presence of high blood pressure, blood-letting an hour or an hour and a half before operation; (5) scrupulous after-care and nursing; (6) miscellaneous auxiliary procedures such as akinesia, retrobulbar anesthesia, a check suture, conjunctival suture, and application of iodine to the wound. Many will think that the bilateral method can be employed only by those for whom the spectacular features of surgery have a strong appeal, and who prefer brilliancy of achievement in successful cases to a maximum average of safety. But Elschnig's opinion is that of a seasoned clinician and opera
tor, and t h e stated results can hardly be said to condemn his point of view. It may be that here, as in regard to intracapsular extraction, radical methods must be reserved for the ophthalmic surgeon who performs a great many operations, while the majority will do more wisely to adhere to conservative and generally accepted technique. W. H. C. Erratum In the printer's final makeup of the February issue, a complete line was dropped from the top of column 2, page 140, as follows: "This individual, who had an anterior " BOOK NOTICES Grundriss der Refractions- und Brillenlehre f iir Studierende und Arzte. Prof. Dr. C. A. Hegner, Luzern. 144 pages, 94 figures in the text. 1927, Urban und Schwarzenberg, Berlin and Vienna. Price, paper cover 7 marks, bound 8.50 marks. The author criticizes a rather com mon impression that the knowledge and application of certain optical formulas is entirely superfluous for the ophthal mologist, and refers to the fact that many nonprofessional workers have successfully entered the field of ophthalmologic optics. This new work on the subject seeks to give a simple and con densed explanation of the optical pro cesses in the eye, the knowledge of which belongs to the equipment of the modern ophthalmologist. I t is hoped that the volume may serve as an intro duction to the more detailed works of Gullstrand, Rohr, and others. In its mathematical statement of optical principles and formulas, the treatment of the subject is technically faultless. The work might however have been made more generally useful to students and physicians by a willing ness to expand the prefection of mathe matical expression into language more readily comprehensible to those whose contact with mathematical principles is somewhat less intimate and habitual than that of the author. For example, in the consideration of correcting lenses for
BOOK NOTICES
myopia, strictly mathematical analysis may find no fault with the statement that "the focal length of the correcting spectacle lens is equal to the sum of the distance of the far point and of the distance of the spectacle lens from the anterior principal point of the eye". But to many readers it would be advis able to suggest that the first quantity (distance of far point) is a negative one, and the second quantity (distance of lens) a positive one. W. II. C. Consumption of tobacco and alcohol in cases of tobacco amblyopia. General discussion by C. H. Usher, M. B., Aberdeen. Detailed sta tistical discussion by Ethel M. Elderton, London. Paper, quarto, 45 pp., 11 diagrams. Cambridge Uni versity Press, 1927. This monograph is a reprint from the Annals of Eugenics (vol. 2, October, 1927). Since tobacco amblyopia was recognized as a clinical entity, there have been skeptics who doubted if it were caused by tobacco, and the shares of causation to be assigned to tobacco and alcohol have been in dispute. These studies are based on the records of 1100 cases occurring in Aberdeen, Scotland; a number that indicates that the causes of such amblyopia are active among its population of nearly 200,000. The im portant conclusions here arrived at are that as a rule the subjects of tobacco amblyopia are not heavy smokers, that more often the age is above than below fifty years, and that rather more than two-thirds of the victims drink no more then one glass of beer or whiskey daily. One hundred and twelve total ab stainers from alcohol were included in this series. "In women a much smaller quantity of tobacco than is taken by men is sufficient to cause amblyopia". The evidence here furnished does not indicate that bright light has an in fluence in producing the central scotoma of tobacco amblyopia. For all who wish to study tobacco amblyopia or the important problems connected with it, this monograph will be an extremely useful original source of information. It illustrates that good
241
work, rather than exceptional oppor tunities for observation, is the essential factor for the production of valuable medical literature. The studies in this instance were not confined to the cases seen in Aberdeen, but included a critical examination of the mass of literature bearing upon the subject. E. J. American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology, transactions 1927. Editor, Clarence Loeb. Cloth, octavo, 495 p., ill. Chicago, published by the Academy. The publication of this volume in three months after the meeting whose transactions it records is a notable achievement for the editor and the others participating in the collection and preparation of the matter here in cluded. Such early publication of the proceedings of a meeting requires effort and team work, but is worth all that is necessary to accomplish it. Of this volume 151 pages deal with ophthalmology, and 135 pages with otolaryngology, while the remainder is devoted to papers of interest to both ophthalmologist and otolaryngologist. This last division includes the address of the president, which is called "a sermon", and also the address of the guest of honor, Professor Birkett of Montreal, in which he gave personal and biographic sketches of Frank Buller, ophthalmologist, Adam Politzer, otolo gist, and George M. Lefferts, the laryngologist. There is also the symposium of forty-five pages on focal infection. A report of work done by the research fellow of the Academy, Dr. Daniel B. Kirby, is devoted to standards for judging the progress of arrest of cata ract. The alphabetic and geographic lists of members of the Academy occupy eighty pages. The minutes, the lists of former officers, and the indexes are all valuable references for the members. The descriptions and pictures of new instruments and apparatus will interest all readers. Starting thirty-three years ago as the Western Association, the Academy through its transactions and its endowment to assist research, has
EDITORIALS
against this dogma. Elschnig finds many patients in whom bilateral ex traction is to be recommended. With Zentner (Archiv fur Augenheilkunde, volume 98, part 3) he records this procedure in five hundred and seventyeight patients during the period from 1911 to 1925. This number does not include fifty-three patients in whom both eyes were operated upon simul taneously during 1925 by the Barraquer method. The 578 patients, or 1156 eyes, included 698 incipient or immature cataracts, 273 mature or approximately so, and 184 hypermature. Simple extraction on both eyes was done in 344 cases, simple in one eye and combined in the other 141 cases, and combined extraction in both eyes in 143 cases. If vitreous prolapse occurred in the first eye, the second was not proceeded with at that time. In the presence of any hint of psychic distur bance, at least one and often both eyes were left open after the first twenty-four hours. Eight eyes were lost, seven from wound suppuration, one through expul sive hemorrhage. In this single case of expulsive hemorrhage the accident was unilateral, in a decrepit patient of seventy-eight years with hypermature cataract in both eyes. The following precautions were ad hered to rigidly: (1) preliminary exami nation, and treatment in case of need (circulation, heart, kidney, digestive tract, tonsils, teeth, and so on); (2) sterility of the conjunctival sac; (3) mental quietude, obtained by adminis tering a sedative one hour before opera tion; (4) in the presence of high blood pressure, blood-letting an hour or an hour and a half before operation; (5) scrupulous after-care and nursing; (6) miscellaneous auxiliary procedures such as akinesia, retrobulbar anesthesia, a check suture, conjunctival suture, and application of iodine to the wound. Many will think that the bilateral method can be employed only by those for whom the spectacular features of surgery have a strong appeal, and who prefer brilliancy of achievement in successful cases to a maximum average of safety. But Elschnig's opinion is that of a seasoned clinician and opera
tor, and t h e stated results can hardly be said to condemn his point of view. It may be that here, as in regard to intracapsular extraction, radical methods must be reserved for the ophthalmic surgeon who performs a great many operations, while the majority will do more wisely to adhere to conservative and generally accepted technique. W. H. C. Erratum In the printer's final makeup of the February issue, a complete line was dropped from the top of column 2, page 140, as follows: "This individual, who had an anterior " BOOK NOTICES Grundriss der Refractions- und Brillenlehre f iir Studierende und Arzte. Prof. Dr. C. A. Hegner, Luzern. 144 pages, 94 figures in the text. 1927, Urban und Schwarzenberg, Berlin and Vienna. Price, paper cover 7 marks, bound 8.50 marks. The author criticizes a rather com mon impression that the knowledge and application of certain optical formulas is entirely superfluous for the ophthal mologist, and refers to the fact that many nonprofessional workers have successfully entered the field of ophthalmologic optics. This new work on the subject seeks to give a simple and con densed explanation of the optical pro cesses in the eye, the knowledge of which belongs to the equipment of the modern ophthalmologist. I t is hoped that the volume may serve as an intro duction to the more detailed works of Gullstrand, Rohr, and others. In its mathematical statement of optical principles and formulas, the treatment of the subject is technically faultless. The work might however have been made more generally useful to students and physicians by a willing ness to expand the prefection of mathe matical expression into language more readily comprehensible to those whose contact with mathematical principles is somewhat less intimate and habitual than that of the author. For example, in the consideration of correcting lenses for
BOOK NOTICES
myopia, strictly mathematical analysis may find no fault with the statement that "the focal length of the correcting spectacle lens is equal to the sum of the distance of the far point and of the distance of the spectacle lens from the anterior principal point of the eye". But to many readers it would be advis able to suggest that the first quantity (distance of far point) is a negative one, and the second quantity (distance of lens) a positive one. W. II. C. Consumption of tobacco and alcohol in cases of tobacco amblyopia. General discussion by C. H. Usher, M. B., Aberdeen. Detailed sta tistical discussion by Ethel M. Elderton, London. Paper, quarto, 45 pp., 11 diagrams. Cambridge Uni versity Press, 1927. This monograph is a reprint from the Annals of Eugenics (vol. 2, October, 1927). Since tobacco amblyopia was recognized as a clinical entity, there have been skeptics who doubted if it were caused by tobacco, and the shares of causation to be assigned to tobacco and alcohol have been in dispute. These studies are based on the records of 1100 cases occurring in Aberdeen, Scotland; a number that indicates that the causes of such amblyopia are active among its population of nearly 200,000. The im portant conclusions here arrived at are that as a rule the subjects of tobacco amblyopia are not heavy smokers, that more often the age is above than below fifty years, and that rather more than two-thirds of the victims drink no more then one glass of beer or whiskey daily. One hundred and twelve total ab stainers from alcohol were included in this series. "In women a much smaller quantity of tobacco than is taken by men is sufficient to cause amblyopia". The evidence here furnished does not indicate that bright light has an in fluence in producing the central scotoma of tobacco amblyopia. For all who wish to study tobacco amblyopia or the important problems connected with it, this monograph will be an extremely useful original source of information. It illustrates that good
241
work, rather than exceptional oppor tunities for observation, is the essential factor for the production of valuable medical literature. The studies in this instance were not confined to the cases seen in Aberdeen, but included a critical examination of the mass of literature bearing upon the subject. E. J. American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology, transactions 1927. Editor, Clarence Loeb. Cloth, octavo, 495 p., ill. Chicago, published by the Academy. The publication of this volume in three months after the meeting whose transactions it records is a notable achievement for the editor and the others participating in the collection and preparation of the matter here in cluded. Such early publication of the proceedings of a meeting requires effort and team work, but is worth all that is necessary to accomplish it. Of this volume 151 pages deal with ophthalmology, and 135 pages with otolaryngology, while the remainder is devoted to papers of interest to both ophthalmologist and otolaryngologist. This last division includes the address of the president, which is called "a sermon", and also the address of the guest of honor, Professor Birkett of Montreal, in which he gave personal and biographic sketches of Frank Buller, ophthalmologist, Adam Politzer, otolo gist, and George M. Lefferts, the laryngologist. There is also the symposium of forty-five pages on focal infection. A report of work done by the research fellow of the Academy, Dr. Daniel B. Kirby, is devoted to standards for judging the progress of arrest of cata ract. The alphabetic and geographic lists of members of the Academy occupy eighty pages. The minutes, the lists of former officers, and the indexes are all valuable references for the members. The descriptions and pictures of new instruments and apparatus will interest all readers. Starting thirty-three years ago as the Western Association, the Academy through its transactions and its endowment to assist research, has