La Prophylaxie de la Cécité en Roumanie (1940-1947)

748 BOOK REVIEWS

chorioretinitis and periphlebitis in heredi­tary syphilis ; of uveitis in leptospirosis ; and of a choroidal angioma complicated by in­tractable glaucoma which followed an injec­tion of tetanus antitoxin.

A symposium on the essential shrinkage of the conjunctiva was the highlight of the session on March 16, 1947. Beauvieux de­livered the lecture which dealt with the clini­cal description, pathology, etiology, differen­tial diagnosis, and treatment of this com­paratively rare disease.

The topics of the following 17 papers were many and their presentation and sub­jects of varying interest. A. Bronner and P. Pouliquen gave another lecture on penicil­lin therapy with especial emphasis on the technique of subconjunctival, anterior chamber, and vitreous injections in other­wise hopeless external eye infections.

Mathieu describes an original modifica­tion of intracapsular cataract extraction of an intumescent lens wherein a micropunc-ture to decrease the tautness of the capsule precedes the extraction. R. Bruckner com­bines a case report on toxoplasmosis with a detailed study of this disease. The origin and the manifestation of uveal carcinoma were discussed by J. Nordmann and G. Hoerner, and sarcoma of the choroid by J. C. Poirot.

A detailed case report of a nevocarcinoma of the lacrimal sac was given by Gallois and Michel-Gallois. Two cases of perforating scleromalacia were described by C. Henry and B. Algan. Beau, Thomas, and Bénichaux

report a case of bilateral pulsating exoph-thalmus and explain the pathology and the treatment, which consisted in the ligature of the right common carotid. The pathogene-sis of the ocular structures in methyl-alcohol intoxication was the topic of Rohr's paper.

The closing paper was read by Christian Henry. He reported on his research con­cerning the diastolic hypotension of the cen­tral retinal artery in fatal coma. He stresses the importance of the diastolic retinal pres­sure on the outcome of every kind of coma. A comparatively high diastolic pressure is of favorable prognosis as it is the sign of a cellular edema which is reversible. A de­creasing diastolic pressure indicates cerebral degeneration which continues unrelentingly toward death. Even so the toxic cause should be removed. Alice R. Deutsch.

LA PROPHYLAXIE DE LA CÉCITÉ EN ROUMANIE (1940-1947). By Dr. Nicolas Blatt. Bucureçti, Imprimeria Na­tional , 1947. In this 68-page monograph, Blatt dis­

cusses the problem of blindness in Rou-mania. He briefly displays statistics, con­siders the causes of blindness, and gives a critical review of such social measures as the laws that apply to vaccination against smallpox, the application of the Credé pro­cedure, and industrial accidents, schools for amblyopes, pensions for the blind, eugenics, and social insurance.

F. H. Haessler.