Viral Diseases

BOOK REVIEWS

160

high astigmatism, aphakia, keratoconus, presbyopia and of the partially sighted are considered. T h e discussion of residual astigmatism, its causes and therapy is very well presented. T h e final section deals with general principles of optics and instrumentation as related to contact lens fitting. The text is well written and easy to read, and is nicely supplemented by tables and diagrams which are clear and informative. This book is recommended highly for the ophthalmologist interested in the fitting of contact lenses. It is of special value to the beginner in this field, but even the more experienced fitter will find a great deal of helpful and informative material in the book. Leonard A. Sarnat.

VIRAL

DISEASES.

Kaufman,

M.D.

Edited

by

Herbert

CORNEO-PLASTIC

E. SUR-

GERY. Edited by Sir Benjamin Rycroft, F.R.C.S. International Ophthalmology Clinics, Volume 4, Number 2, June, 1964. Boston, Little, Brown and Company, 1964. 296 pages. Price: $22.50 a year. The section on viral diseases is primarily concerned with Herpes simplex, adenoviruses and trachoma. In addition, there is an excellent, up-to-the-minute section by D r . Ronald Wood on the identification of viruses. Sir Benjamin Rycroft's section is longer and emphasizes reconstructive surgery of the eye and adnexa, especially after trauma although congenital defects are included. Surgery of the lids, lacrimal system and orbit receives most emphasis but there is also a section on anesthesia and a brief discussion of corneal surgery. Both portions of this book continue the high standards of excellence which have come to be expected of International O phthalmology Clinics. Thomas Chalkley.

THE

VALUE

OF

RETINAL

VASCULAR

C H A N G E S I N T H E D I A G N O S I S OF A R T E R I O -

SCLEROSIS (with special consideration of cerebral arteriosclerosis). By Otto-Erich Lund. Basel, Switzerland, S. Karger, 1964. German, 153 pages, 56 illustrations, 45 tables. Price: Not listed. Correlation of findings from various disciplines of medicine poses some of the most time-consuming and painstaking work in clinical investigative medicine. It takes almost superhuman effort and the sincere cooperation of others to collect, study and interpret the data necessary for useful information on a multifaceted subject like the one chosen by Lund for his monograph on arteriosclerosis. Ever since the invention of the ophthalmoscope, physicians have been tempted to correlate the visible changes in the retinal vasculature with those in other organs presumed to exist on the basis of a certain clinical symptomatology, and verified only at the autopsy table. Opinions regarding the retinal manifestations in arteriosclerosis of other organs, especially the kidney and the brain, have been widely divergent. Among the very few surveys in which histopathologic findings in the retinal vessels were correlated with those in other organs, the present work comprises the largest material, with 125 sectioned eyes and brains. General autopsy findings were available in 109 of these cases and in 33 of them ophthalmoscopic examinations were made prior to death. Deductions from this impressive material were made under the strictest criteria and thus seem to form a valid basis for a definite assignment of the role of ophthalmoscopy in obtaining a patient's general vascular profile. F o r instance, the difficult clinical differential diagnosis between cerebral arteriosclerosis and senile dementia would be materially aided by ophthalmoscopy on the basis of the newly established relationships. It would be a service to the medical profession in general to have this study and its