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Ophthalmological Society of Egypt. Bulletin of 1933 Meeting
BOOK NOTICES Probably the idea of such a volume originated with pupils and close asso ciates of Dr. Wilmer, but there is no indication of who should have credit for this service. There is but one article from Baltimore, written by an old friend. The wider circle of friends is represented by articles contributed to the volume by residents of other prin cipal medical centers of America and Europe. They include Sir Stewart and Lady Duke-Elder and Miss Ida Mann of London, Emile de Grosz of Budapest, Van der Hoeve of Leyden, Elschnig of Prague, Igersheimer of Frankfort, Lindner of Vienna and Magitot of Paris. The "Foreword" gives a very brief account of the life and achievements of Dr. Wilmer. There are 84 illustrations, mostly of pathologic conditions, and three of them in colors. These papers were originally published in the Janu ary number of the Archives of Ophthal mology, which thus became a "Fest schrift," but it is appropriate and con venient, to have them thus included in a substantial and handsome volume. Edward Jackson.
Transactions of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology. 619 pages. 103 illustrations. Douglas Printing Company, Oma ha, 1933. The value of the published transac tions of any society depends largely on the scientific material presented at the meeting plus the list of members and the record of the activities of the so ciety. The volume for 1933 of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology is a fit com panion for its predecessors. It is dedi cated to Dr. Walter B. Lancaster, an excellent likeness of whom appears in the front of the book. Major General Robert U. Patterson was guest of honor and his interesting address on ophthal mology in Military Service is included. Some of the newer suggestions in ophthalmic surgery are outlined by Dr. John M. Wheeler. A look into the future is always interesting and no one is bet
545
ter qualified to evaluate surgical pos sibilities than Dr. Wheeler. The scientific program was an un usually good one. To discuss all the sub jects considered would be impossible. One of the outstanding papers was that by Dr. William C. Finnoff and Edna M. Reynolds on "Spread of tuberculosis in the eye." The illustrations throughout the text are excellent; for special mention, the fine reproductions of Dr. Bedell's an terior segment photographs, should be cited. 2064 names were carried on the mem bership roll on September 1, 1933. Thirty-one deaths occurred during the preceding year. Of the committee reports, perhaps the most interesting is that on investi gating the treatment for incipient cata ract. The findings fall short of the al most universal opinion of ophthalmolo gists that medicinal treatment is value less in clearing opacities. To state that the personal investigation by the com mittee and a study of the literature failed to indicate that there is any sci entific proof that medical treatment of lenticular opacities will cause an entire restoration of the normal transparency of the lens once opacities have appeared is far from the convincing statement that ophthalmologists would like to re fer to patients who describe the medic inal treatment which they say some one else has used successfully on their friends. There is a veiled implication in the report that medical treatment may cause at least partial absorption of cata racts. The Editors are to be congratulated on this volume and especially the Edi tor in Chief, for combining so success fully the sections prepared by the As sistant Editors. Lawrence T. Post. Ophthalmological Society of Egypt. Bulletin of 1933 Meeting. Volume 26. Paper, 286 pages. Published by the Society, Cairo, 1933. This volume deserves a place in every ophthalmological library in the world. Except four papers in French, and a
54a
BOOK NOTICES
single brief paper in Arabic, this volume is all published in English. It contains a report from the committee which has been working to prepare Arabic equiva lents for common English ophthalmic terms. This report gives 17 pages, carry ing forward the work from "cornea, nerves of" to "Fergus' trephining for glaucoma." This is a practical move ment of the ancient languages of the East to adapt themselves to the require ments of modern western science. The international interest in ophthal mology is shown in its list of honorary members — "Ophthalmologists distin guished either by their work, or by the interest they have shown in the So ciety." The list numbers 21, and shows four from England, four from Paris, two each from Athens, Naples and Philadelphia, and one famous ophthal mologist each from Vienna, Heidelberg, Prague, Leiden, Budapest, and Bom bay. The general members number 176, drawn from Egypt with fifteen million inhabitants, as many as the American Ophthalmological Society has gathered from a population of one hundred and twenty millions. Of the 35 subjects of communications to the Society, 5 refer to operations, in cluding plastic operations on the lower lid, cataract extraction with a conjunctival bridge, and a review of recent operative treatment for detachment of the retina. Among the six papers on conjunctival disease is one by Dr. Olitsky from the Rockefeller Institute, on spontaneous folliculosis of monkeys, one on clinical aspects of trachoma, and four on histopathology, from the Giza Laboratory. A paper on pituitary tumors, refer ring to five cases, with fields and the pathological specimens from one of them; and the analysis of forty cases of proptosis, indicates the rich clinical field in which the members of the So ciety are working. There are also re ports on the ocular complications of smallpox and measles. General thera peutics are represented by a paper on milk injections, taking up indications, contra-indications and dosage. There are numerous illustrations, chiefly
photographs of cases, pathological specimens and tissue sections. The one color plate shows a case of naevo-carcinoma of the conjunctiva. Most of the back numbers of this Bul letin can be obtained from the Director of the Ophthalmic Hospitals, Dawawin P. O., Cairo, Egypt. Edward Jackson. Blindness and the Blind in the United States. By Harry Best, Ph.D., LL.B. Octavo, 734 pages, 1934. The Macmillan Co., New York. (See also Amer. Jour. Ophth., v. 17, no. 4, p. 360.) A certain automobile was advertised with the claim, when a better automo bile is made we will make it. For fifteen years "The Blind" by Dr. Best has been the most complete work on the subject, in any language. This new book will continue his leadership in this depart ment of literature. It might be consid ered a new edition and has the advan tage of a second edition correcting erors found in its predecessor. But since 1919 the development in knowledge of blindness, what should be done to pre vent it, and what can be done to help the blind, have gone on so rapidly, that this book has much the value of a new treatise on the subject. Its text has been increased only about 80 per cent; but the new knowledge of the subject doubles its value. This account of blindness will be fully appreciated by those who found the earlier book most serviceable. It has been revised as well as extended. Its full index gives it great value as a work of reference for any who wish to study the varieties and causes of blindness or the needs, capacities, resources, or work of the blind. For the eye physician it must enlarge his sense of his responsibilities to his patients and his service to society in prevention of blindness and in spreading information in the commu nity. A general understanding of the blind and the work they can do, has been sadly lacking. The fifty-five chapters of this book are grouped in seven parts, the headings
Transactions of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology. 619 pages. 103 illustrations. Douglas Printing Company, Oma ha, 1933. The value of the published transac tions of any society depends largely on the scientific material presented at the meeting plus the list of members and the record of the activities of the so ciety. The volume for 1933 of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Oto-Laryngology is a fit com panion for its predecessors. It is dedi cated to Dr. Walter B. Lancaster, an excellent likeness of whom appears in the front of the book. Major General Robert U. Patterson was guest of honor and his interesting address on ophthal mology in Military Service is included. Some of the newer suggestions in ophthalmic surgery are outlined by Dr. John M. Wheeler. A look into the future is always interesting and no one is bet
545
ter qualified to evaluate surgical pos sibilities than Dr. Wheeler. The scientific program was an un usually good one. To discuss all the sub jects considered would be impossible. One of the outstanding papers was that by Dr. William C. Finnoff and Edna M. Reynolds on "Spread of tuberculosis in the eye." The illustrations throughout the text are excellent; for special mention, the fine reproductions of Dr. Bedell's an terior segment photographs, should be cited. 2064 names were carried on the mem bership roll on September 1, 1933. Thirty-one deaths occurred during the preceding year. Of the committee reports, perhaps the most interesting is that on investi gating the treatment for incipient cata ract. The findings fall short of the al most universal opinion of ophthalmolo gists that medicinal treatment is value less in clearing opacities. To state that the personal investigation by the com mittee and a study of the literature failed to indicate that there is any sci entific proof that medical treatment of lenticular opacities will cause an entire restoration of the normal transparency of the lens once opacities have appeared is far from the convincing statement that ophthalmologists would like to re fer to patients who describe the medic inal treatment which they say some one else has used successfully on their friends. There is a veiled implication in the report that medical treatment may cause at least partial absorption of cata racts. The Editors are to be congratulated on this volume and especially the Edi tor in Chief, for combining so success fully the sections prepared by the As sistant Editors. Lawrence T. Post. Ophthalmological Society of Egypt. Bulletin of 1933 Meeting. Volume 26. Paper, 286 pages. Published by the Society, Cairo, 1933. This volume deserves a place in every ophthalmological library in the world. Except four papers in French, and a
54a
BOOK NOTICES
single brief paper in Arabic, this volume is all published in English. It contains a report from the committee which has been working to prepare Arabic equiva lents for common English ophthalmic terms. This report gives 17 pages, carry ing forward the work from "cornea, nerves of" to "Fergus' trephining for glaucoma." This is a practical move ment of the ancient languages of the East to adapt themselves to the require ments of modern western science. The international interest in ophthal mology is shown in its list of honorary members — "Ophthalmologists distin guished either by their work, or by the interest they have shown in the So ciety." The list numbers 21, and shows four from England, four from Paris, two each from Athens, Naples and Philadelphia, and one famous ophthal mologist each from Vienna, Heidelberg, Prague, Leiden, Budapest, and Bom bay. The general members number 176, drawn from Egypt with fifteen million inhabitants, as many as the American Ophthalmological Society has gathered from a population of one hundred and twenty millions. Of the 35 subjects of communications to the Society, 5 refer to operations, in cluding plastic operations on the lower lid, cataract extraction with a conjunctival bridge, and a review of recent operative treatment for detachment of the retina. Among the six papers on conjunctival disease is one by Dr. Olitsky from the Rockefeller Institute, on spontaneous folliculosis of monkeys, one on clinical aspects of trachoma, and four on histopathology, from the Giza Laboratory. A paper on pituitary tumors, refer ring to five cases, with fields and the pathological specimens from one of them; and the analysis of forty cases of proptosis, indicates the rich clinical field in which the members of the So ciety are working. There are also re ports on the ocular complications of smallpox and measles. General thera peutics are represented by a paper on milk injections, taking up indications, contra-indications and dosage. There are numerous illustrations, chiefly
photographs of cases, pathological specimens and tissue sections. The one color plate shows a case of naevo-carcinoma of the conjunctiva. Most of the back numbers of this Bul letin can be obtained from the Director of the Ophthalmic Hospitals, Dawawin P. O., Cairo, Egypt. Edward Jackson. Blindness and the Blind in the United States. By Harry Best, Ph.D., LL.B. Octavo, 734 pages, 1934. The Macmillan Co., New York. (See also Amer. Jour. Ophth., v. 17, no. 4, p. 360.) A certain automobile was advertised with the claim, when a better automo bile is made we will make it. For fifteen years "The Blind" by Dr. Best has been the most complete work on the subject, in any language. This new book will continue his leadership in this depart ment of literature. It might be consid ered a new edition and has the advan tage of a second edition correcting erors found in its predecessor. But since 1919 the development in knowledge of blindness, what should be done to pre vent it, and what can be done to help the blind, have gone on so rapidly, that this book has much the value of a new treatise on the subject. Its text has been increased only about 80 per cent; but the new knowledge of the subject doubles its value. This account of blindness will be fully appreciated by those who found the earlier book most serviceable. It has been revised as well as extended. Its full index gives it great value as a work of reference for any who wish to study the varieties and causes of blindness or the needs, capacities, resources, or work of the blind. For the eye physician it must enlarge his sense of his responsibilities to his patients and his service to society in prevention of blindness and in spreading information in the commu nity. A general understanding of the blind and the work they can do, has been sadly lacking. The fifty-five chapters of this book are grouped in seven parts, the headings