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The Causes and Prevention of Acquired Myopia
BOOK REVIEWS
746
ject, and add this important instrument to his active diagnostic armamentarium. William A . Mann. THE
CAUSES
AND
QUIRED MYOPIA.
PREVENTION
By Tikasi
OF
Sato,
AC
M.D.
Tokyo, Kanehara Shuppan Co., 1957. 244 pages, 35 figures, bibliography, index. Price: Not listed. Professor Ishihara maintained that the near work involved in studying the mini mum of 2,000 ideograms essential for liter acy contributed to the high incidence of myopia among the Chinese and Japanese, and zealously championed the substitution of an alphabet similar to that in the Romance languages. I n 1939 he inspired the studies in myopia that Tikasi Sato has diligently continued since. T h e author is not to be confused with Tutomu Sato, a frequent con tributor to T H E JOURNAL, who has been keenly interested in the same subject and has experimented with a new surgical ap proach to myopia ( A m . J. Ophth., 36:823, 1953). Tikasi Sato holds that " T h e post-natal cause of school myopia is not the elongation of the ocular axis produced post-natally through near work but is caused by a post natal change in the refractive power of the crystalline lens which is related to the con tinuous accommodation caused by near work." H e claims that accommodation in susceptible individuals raises the tonus of the ciliary muscle and changes the shape of the crystalline lens. I n his studies he found that the instillation of one-percent atropine once daily for three days removed completely the tonus of the ciliary muscle, and demonstrated that the refractions in cases of accommodative paralysis caused by diphtheria and that found by atropine after recovery were identical. Sato presented his views at the last Inter national Congress of Ophthalmology (Acta X V I I Cone. Ophth., 3:1819-1830, 1954). I n the discussion Lindner pointed out that in
Germany myopia■
BLENNORRHEA
IN
NEWBORN.
By
H . Salvisberg and F . Schonenberger. Basel, N e w Ycrk, S. Karger, 1957. 47 pages. Price: S F r . 7.50. In the first page of this monograph, Salvisberg gives a historical review of Crede's method using silver nitrate in the prophylaxis of blennorrhea in newborn. H e discusses disadvantages of its use and evalu ates recent attempts to substitute other newer drugs for silver nitrate or to discontinue prophylactic measures altogether. Gonococci have ceased to be the most im portant cause numerically of blennorrhea in recent y e a r s ; stephylococci, various bac teria, and the virus of inclusion blennorrhea actually occur more frequently than the for mer. T h e ideal prophylacticum should be ef fective in every instance. Colloidal silver preparations, though still widely used (espe cially in Switzerland), have proved to be completely unsatis factory. W i t h the advert of the sulfonamides, a substitute seemed to be at hand that was equally effective ar d less irritating than silver nitrate. Recently sulfonamides have lost favor with most men because of numerous allergic reactions after their use in new born and because a number of strains, es-
746
ject, and add this important instrument to his active diagnostic armamentarium. William A . Mann. THE
CAUSES
AND
QUIRED MYOPIA.
PREVENTION
By Tikasi
OF
Sato,
AC
M.D.
Tokyo, Kanehara Shuppan Co., 1957. 244 pages, 35 figures, bibliography, index. Price: Not listed. Professor Ishihara maintained that the near work involved in studying the mini mum of 2,000 ideograms essential for liter acy contributed to the high incidence of myopia among the Chinese and Japanese, and zealously championed the substitution of an alphabet similar to that in the Romance languages. I n 1939 he inspired the studies in myopia that Tikasi Sato has diligently continued since. T h e author is not to be confused with Tutomu Sato, a frequent con tributor to T H E JOURNAL, who has been keenly interested in the same subject and has experimented with a new surgical ap proach to myopia ( A m . J. Ophth., 36:823, 1953). Tikasi Sato holds that " T h e post-natal cause of school myopia is not the elongation of the ocular axis produced post-natally through near work but is caused by a post natal change in the refractive power of the crystalline lens which is related to the con tinuous accommodation caused by near work." H e claims that accommodation in susceptible individuals raises the tonus of the ciliary muscle and changes the shape of the crystalline lens. I n his studies he found that the instillation of one-percent atropine once daily for three days removed completely the tonus of the ciliary muscle, and demonstrated that the refractions in cases of accommodative paralysis caused by diphtheria and that found by atropine after recovery were identical. Sato presented his views at the last Inter national Congress of Ophthalmology (Acta X V I I Cone. Ophth., 3:1819-1830, 1954). I n the discussion Lindner pointed out that in
Germany myopia■
BLENNORRHEA
IN
NEWBORN.
By
H . Salvisberg and F . Schonenberger. Basel, N e w Ycrk, S. Karger, 1957. 47 pages. Price: S F r . 7.50. In the first page of this monograph, Salvisberg gives a historical review of Crede's method using silver nitrate in the prophylaxis of blennorrhea in newborn. H e discusses disadvantages of its use and evalu ates recent attempts to substitute other newer drugs for silver nitrate or to discontinue prophylactic measures altogether. Gonococci have ceased to be the most im portant cause numerically of blennorrhea in recent y e a r s ; stephylococci, various bac teria, and the virus of inclusion blennorrhea actually occur more frequently than the for mer. T h e ideal prophylacticum should be ef fective in every instance. Colloidal silver preparations, though still widely used (espe cially in Switzerland), have proved to be completely unsatis factory. W i t h the advert of the sulfonamides, a substitute seemed to be at hand that was equally effective ar d less irritating than silver nitrate. Recently sulfonamides have lost favor with most men because of numerous allergic reactions after their use in new born and because a number of strains, es-