BOOK REVIEWS 393

BOOK REVIEWS EUGENE WOLFF'S ANATOMY OF THE EYE

AND ORBIT (Revised by R. J. Last, F.R.C.S.) Philadelphia, W. B. Saunders Co., 1961, edition 5. 500 pages, 438 illus­trations including 54 in color, topical refer­ences, index. Price: $18.00. Prof. R. J. Last is the professor of ap­

plied anatomy and warden of the Royal College of Surgeons in England and thus is fully qualified to revise Eugene Wolff's familiar and widely used textbook of anat­omy of the eye and orbit. The generous illustrations, to which a few new ones are added and the text with its familiar print and headings bring a delightful recognition of an old friend. Prof. Last has enlarged the descriptions of the facial nerve and the nervus intermedius and has made a number of minor amendments "of a factual nature" here and there throughout the text.

He has also made considerable alteration of terminology in order "to bring it into line with current names." He has included brief accounts of electron-microscopic and biomicroscopic studies and has brought up to date the bibliographies.

It is a handsome work deserving of a good reception, in spite of the fact that due to modern techniques the anatomy of the eye is being explosively explored. In a few years or even less this and other similar work will be considerably out of date. This is not the fault of the author who has done a good job with a rich and, in parts timeless, vintage.

Derrick Vail.

KERATOPLASTY. By B. Alberth, M.D., Stutt­gart, Ferdinand Enke Verlag, 1961. In German, 186 pages, 191 illustrations. Price : DM 30.00. This monograph is the outgrowth of the

author's endeavors during the past 10 years to establish keratoplasty as a routine pro­cedure at the University Eye Clinic in De­brecen, Hungary. Personal experience and

investigations take up a good part of the volume. In addition, there is an excellent historical review and a concise description of currently favored trends in surgical tech­nique as well as some of the experimental work carried out during recent years.

In addition to the Hungarian school, Ger­man, French and American authors are allotted equal space. Some points brought out by the essayist are of interest. It is his routine to scrape the epithelium off the donor graft. This procedure results in earlier epithelization. Animal experiments were confirmed by clinical experience.

Alberth occasionally makes an attempt to reduce myopia by implanting a slightly smaller button. In one instance he was able to reduce a myopia of 22 diopters to 18 diopters by transplanting a 6.1-mm. graft in a 6.5-mm. bed of the recipient cornea.

The author's present routine is to con­tinue topical steroids postoperatively for one year.

The over-all results in his clinic are not as favorable as in other places. Perhaps one of the reasons is that Alberth never refuses a case as long as there is light perception. He believes that such an attitude is the only means of gaining experience in the deter­mination of what constitutes a "hopeless" case. Procedural changes may eventually put some of these hopeless cases into the "un­favorable" category.

Alberth's work on the use of lyophilized cornea is in agreement with similar investi­gations here and abroad. This donor ma­terial has its place in lamellar but not in penetrating keratoplasty. He also comes to the conclusion that the absence of the en-dothelium is the cause of failures in the latter procedure.

There is an excellent presentation on the behavior of the different layers of the trans­plant as reported by various investigators.

In summary, Alberth has written a book which includes not only his personal expe­rience and opinions but which gives a well-rounded picture of the prevailing ideas on

394 BOOK REVIEWS

keratoplasty. Ophthalmologists experienced in this field should enjoy getting a few new ideas on the subject. Surgeons who perform the operation only occasionally or not at all may get encouragement from this presenta­tion which should go a long way to establish it as a routine procedure.

Stefan Van Wien.

STEDMAN'S MEDICAL DICTIONARY. Balti­more, The Williams and Wilkins Com­pany, 1961, edition 20. 1680 pages, 32 plates. Price: $14.95. It has been said that the freshman medical

student must not only devote his every working hour to a study of anatomy, his­tology, biochemistry, and so forth, but in his spare time he must learn a new language. For this reason one of the very first pur­chases he makes is a medical dictionary. Unfortunately in most cases he still has this dictionary 30 years later in which time he has probably purchased several new English dictionaries, although medical terminology changes more rapidly than our native tongue. One may judge the rate of change in medi­cal language by noting that this volume is the 20th edition in 50 years. It is actually almost a new book. The invaluable section on medical etymology has been retained but almost all the illustrations have been altered and each definition carefully examined and reworded where necessary. The consultant for ophthalmology is Dr. William Benedict and this has assured a full and accurate inclusion of ophthalmologic terms.

This is an excellent opportunity to replace that dog-eared, broken-backed dictionary of medical school days with an up-to-date lexicon.

David Shoch.

SLITLAMP GONIOSCOPY. By George Gorin, M.D. and Adolph Posner, M.D. Baltimore, The Williams and Wilkins Company, 1961, second edition. 209 pages, 99 figures,

2 colored plates, bibliography, glossary, index. Price: $7.50. It is good to see this useful book in its

second edition. It is revised and new textual and illustrative material have been added. The 18 chapters include discussion of the pertinent anatomy, comparative anatomy and embryology, a useful history of gonioscopy, the technique required, the description of the gonioscopic findings in the normal eye, in simple angle-closure and in special forms of glaucoma (for example, glaucoma cap-sulare), gonioscopic findings in secondary and congenital glaucoma, surgery, congenital anomalies in the region of the angle, tumors, injuries, inflammatory and postinflammatory conditions of the anterior segment, routine office practice and goniophotography.

The material is well arranged, amply illustrated and well printed. The book is a credit to the authors, printers and publishers and should command the good reception that it merits.

Derrick Vail.

HEREDITY IN OPHTHALMOLOGY. By Jules François. Saint Louis, the C. V. Mosby Company, 1961. 731 pages, 629 figures including six in color. Topical bibliograph­ies, author and subject index. Price: $23.00. Energetic Jules François, professor of

ophthalmology at the University of Ghent, a sort of universal man of ophthalmology, has translated his own French edition L'Hérédité en Ophtalmologie. This ap­peared in 1958 and was enthusiastically re­viewed by James Lebensohn in these columns. ( T H E JOURNAL, 48:690, 1959). On looking over the book then I ardently wished for an English edition of this important work.

This wish now is splendidly granted. We are most grateful to the author and American publisher for this edition, meticulously and fluently translated into English for us. Lebensohn said all when he concluded his review with "This work should command