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Ultraviolet Radiation
1839
BOOK REVIEWS
to determine whether one is dealing with a hyperphoria or a hypertropia." Incidentally, Dr. Pascal states that the fu sion faculty is inactive in strabismus. Since many patients with squint show a certain amount of fusion, I think that it would be more accurate to refer to a defective fusion faculty than to an inactive one. (Signed) Abraham Schlossman, New York.
BOOK REVIEWS By Lewis R. Koller, Ph.D. New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1952. 270 pages with numerous illustrations and figures, references, and index. Price: $6.50. Dr. Koller has clarified the vast complex data relating to ultraviolet in a readable, neatly organized presentation, crammed with precise documented facts, much of which is of direct ophthalmic interest. The visibility curve at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum is extremely steep, the sensitivity to 3,650 A being only 1.5 percent that of 4,047 A. The crystalline lens of youth permits perception as far as 3,130 A, and the sensitivity of the aphakic, at 3,650 A, is about one thousand times that of the normal adult. Erythema is most effectively produced at 2,967 A, but at 2,800 A the conjunctiva is more susceptible than the skin because of the absence of a strongly absorbing horny layer. Finsen, who in 1899 discovered that the ultraviolet of sunlight is responsible for sunburn, received the Nobel prize in 1903 for his work in ultraviolet therapy. Most of the solar ultraviolet is absorbed and scattered by the atmosphere so that natural ultraviolet shorter than 2,863 A has not been encoun tered. The scattering accounts for the blue of the sky which is thus endowed with ul traviolet radiation comparable to that re ceived directly from the sun. Pigmentation without erythema results from wavelengths greater than 3,200 A—a finding utilized ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION.
practically in protective suntan lotions and creams. Ultraviolet lamps are specially designed for specific purposes. Rays shorter than 2,800 A are excluded from therapeutic lamps and their weaker models, "sun-lamps"; for illumination the cut-off is at 3,000 A ; while germicidal lamps have their greatest effi ciency at 2,537 A, and for fluorescent effects 3,650 A is optimum. The advantages and dis advantages of the different types of lamps in these fields are thoroughly discussed, as well as everything else of ultraviolet signifi cance. James E. Lebensohn.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PACIFIC COAST OTOOPHTHALMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
1951.
A number of discussions recorded in this volume are of ophthalmic interest. Oscar Hirsch, in an essay on the symptoms and treatment of pituitary tumors, briefly re views the anatomy of the region, the classi fication of the tumors, ocular symptoms, Xray findings, and differential diagnosis and discusses the methods and results of surgical treatment more extensively. Bruce Fralick gives much useful advice in an extensive discussion of the manage ment of complications after cataract extrac tion. His opinion based on wide experience and the capacity to evaluate it are most help ful. Merrill J. Reeh describes three unusual cases of melanoma of the iris and ciliary body. In one in which the entire iris, trabeculum, and ciliary body were infiltrated with cells that had also invaded the choroid as far back as the equator, the patient had noticed a change in the color of his iris from blue to brown two years before. The two other cases emphasize the importance of knowing that malignant melanoma does occur in young patients. In one case, a sud den intraocular hemorrhage called attention to discrete tumor, but gonioscopic examina-
BOOK REVIEWS
to determine whether one is dealing with a hyperphoria or a hypertropia." Incidentally, Dr. Pascal states that the fu sion faculty is inactive in strabismus. Since many patients with squint show a certain amount of fusion, I think that it would be more accurate to refer to a defective fusion faculty than to an inactive one. (Signed) Abraham Schlossman, New York.
BOOK REVIEWS By Lewis R. Koller, Ph.D. New York, John Wiley and Sons, 1952. 270 pages with numerous illustrations and figures, references, and index. Price: $6.50. Dr. Koller has clarified the vast complex data relating to ultraviolet in a readable, neatly organized presentation, crammed with precise documented facts, much of which is of direct ophthalmic interest. The visibility curve at the ultraviolet end of the spectrum is extremely steep, the sensitivity to 3,650 A being only 1.5 percent that of 4,047 A. The crystalline lens of youth permits perception as far as 3,130 A, and the sensitivity of the aphakic, at 3,650 A, is about one thousand times that of the normal adult. Erythema is most effectively produced at 2,967 A, but at 2,800 A the conjunctiva is more susceptible than the skin because of the absence of a strongly absorbing horny layer. Finsen, who in 1899 discovered that the ultraviolet of sunlight is responsible for sunburn, received the Nobel prize in 1903 for his work in ultraviolet therapy. Most of the solar ultraviolet is absorbed and scattered by the atmosphere so that natural ultraviolet shorter than 2,863 A has not been encoun tered. The scattering accounts for the blue of the sky which is thus endowed with ul traviolet radiation comparable to that re ceived directly from the sun. Pigmentation without erythema results from wavelengths greater than 3,200 A—a finding utilized ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION.
practically in protective suntan lotions and creams. Ultraviolet lamps are specially designed for specific purposes. Rays shorter than 2,800 A are excluded from therapeutic lamps and their weaker models, "sun-lamps"; for illumination the cut-off is at 3,000 A ; while germicidal lamps have their greatest effi ciency at 2,537 A, and for fluorescent effects 3,650 A is optimum. The advantages and dis advantages of the different types of lamps in these fields are thoroughly discussed, as well as everything else of ultraviolet signifi cance. James E. Lebensohn.
TRANSACTIONS OF THE PACIFIC COAST OTOOPHTHALMOLOGICAL SOCIETY,
1951.
A number of discussions recorded in this volume are of ophthalmic interest. Oscar Hirsch, in an essay on the symptoms and treatment of pituitary tumors, briefly re views the anatomy of the region, the classi fication of the tumors, ocular symptoms, Xray findings, and differential diagnosis and discusses the methods and results of surgical treatment more extensively. Bruce Fralick gives much useful advice in an extensive discussion of the manage ment of complications after cataract extrac tion. His opinion based on wide experience and the capacity to evaluate it are most help ful. Merrill J. Reeh describes three unusual cases of melanoma of the iris and ciliary body. In one in which the entire iris, trabeculum, and ciliary body were infiltrated with cells that had also invaded the choroid as far back as the equator, the patient had noticed a change in the color of his iris from blue to brown two years before. The two other cases emphasize the importance of knowing that malignant melanoma does occur in young patients. In one case, a sud den intraocular hemorrhage called attention to discrete tumor, but gonioscopic examina-