Fundamentals of Ophthalmology

Abstract

THERE have been several good manuals of ophthalmology written by Englishmen. The first of the modern, that is, post-ophthalmoscopic, period was written by the late Mr. Edward Nettle-ship. It was a very remarkable book, which, like its contemporary, Gowers's “Medical Ophthalmo-scopy”, well merits perusal even to-day, for it is packed with the observations of a very great scientific clinician. Doubtless a larger and more comprehensive textbook would have been written in due course if it had not been for the appearance of Fuchs's textbook, which was soon translated into English and is still universally read. The English version was edited and published in America, and has undergone transformations in later editions which are not all improvements. As so often occurs, ill-digested new material has been invaginated into the text in such a manner as to obscure its balance and perspective without making it satisfactorily encyclopædia The Germans have published more comprehensive works, such as the gigantic “Graefe-Saemisch” in countless volumes, still unfinished, and likely ever to remain so. More recently, they have issued the first three volumes of a so-called “Kurzes Handbuch”, which, when the seven volumes are completed, will cost £49 !

Text-Book of Ophthalmology.

By Dr. W. Stewart Duke-Elder. Vol. 1: The Development, Form and Function of the Visual Apparatus. Pp. xxix + 1124 + 7 plates. (London: Henry Kimp-ton, 1932.) 63s. net.