360 BOOK NOTICES

it has a limited membership which has not increased materially in the last years. This has given the impression that it would not welcome visitors. It has a special by-law on visitors: "At the discretion of the presiding officer any qualified member of the medical profession may attend a meeting of the Society, except an executive session, and may be invited to take part in the proceedings." At the 1930 meeting, in the Virginia mountains, there were ten visitors present; and visitors have al­ways been cordially received.

The number of papers to be read at a meeting is limited to twenty-six. Those in this volume are well up to the standards of our literature, and some of them appear in this Journal. The volume contains a well reported case of "transplantation of the cornea", by Ben Witt Key, and a paper on "avertin as an anesthetic", by W. H. Wilmer; each followed by a good discussion. This volume further contains two member­ship theses; and also includes the re­vised constitution and by-laws of the Society. Edward Jackson.

Bulletin de la Societe Beige d'Ophthal-mologie (Bulletin of the Belgian Ophthalmological Society). No. 61. Analytical minutes of the 61st re­union of the society, at Brussels, November 30, 1930. Paper covers, 150 pages, illustrated. Price not stated. Brussels, Imprimerie Medicale et Scientifique, 34 rue Botanique.

The Belgian society, although origi­nally an offspring of the Societe Fran­chise, has had many years of vigorous independent existence. The member­ship list given in this volume includes a number of distinguished names in Belgium, and also a goodly number of non-Belgian members in the "allied" countries. The list of eight honorary members includes our own Dr. de Schweinitz. This volume records the death of Jean-Baptiste Coppez (see page 167 of the February issue of this Journal) ; Charles Jamain (1837-1930) ; and Rene Warlomont (1855-1930).

Of the many interesting communica­

tions recorded in this volume, briefly but effectively, several are clinical in character. But there are a number of longer original papers, including the following: by Bailliart, on the eye in vascular hypertension; by Orban, on surgery of the sympathetic nerves; by Jean Coppez, on iridocyclitis with hy­pertension ; by Kleefeld, on lateral ex­traction of cataract without the vacuum cup; by Rasquin, on the prognosis of sarcomatous tumors of the choroid; by Gaudissart and Van Lint, on how, at Philadelphia, ophthalmology is taught to physicians; and by Van der Straeten, on the teaching and development of ophthalmology in Belgium, in regard to the plan for creation of a course in oph­thalmology (special doctorate). At a later meeting the Societe Beige d'Oph-thalmologie will discuss (1) the crea­tion of a diploma as oculist, (2) the or­ganization of a course in ophthalmo­logy for doctors who wish to become oculists. These two papers on a much debated and very important question, as well as other important papers in this volume, will be represented later in the abstract department of the Ameri­can Journal of Ophthalmology.

W. H. Crisp.

Chinin in der Allgemeinpraxis unter Beriicksichtigung pharmakologi-scher Befunde (Quinine in gen­eral practice including considera­tion of pharmacologic findings). By Dr. Med. Fritz Johannessohn, Mannheim. 232 pages, with three illustrations. Paper covers. Sent without charge to physicians on re­quest. 1930, Bureau tot Bevorder-ing van het Kininegebruik, Am-sterdam-W (Holland).

This is a very comprehensive volume (in German) on the use of quinine. Its chapters include an account of the sources of quinine, its chemistry, its distribution and excretion in the sys­tem, its therapeutic application to vari­ous diseases, and toxicologic diagnosis and remedies, to which are added very ample consideration of the literature and a careful index. To the ophthal­mologist may be of special interest the

CORRESPONDENCE, OBITUARIES 361

reference, on page thirty-nine, to the fact that Morgenroth and his collab­orators as well as Hirschfelder, Jensen, and Swanson have found optochin or ethylhydrocuprein (a derivative of qui­nine) to possess materially greater power of killing the pneumococcus than is possessed by quinine itself.

W. H. Crisp.

CORRESPONDENCE Corneal and lenticular complications

after trephining To the editor: Recently I saw the fol­

lowing case, and I am writing to ask whether readers of the Journal can of­fer an explanation of the phenomena.

A white man fifty years old was blind in the left eye from chronic simple glaucoma; tension 60 mm., deep cup with atrophy. Right eye tension 45 mm., media clear, advanced cupping, fields about fifty percent lost. Advised trephining both eyes. Septic mouth cleaned up, kidneys normal. Blood pressure moderately elevated, moderate vascular sclerosis. Elliot trephining was performed on both eyes with iri-dectomy and good conjunctival flap. Atropin one percent solution used in each eye. Both eyes were inspected in thirty-six hours.

Now come the unusual features : both corneas were very steamy, both wounds filtering and tension less than normal (?), both lenses looked milky, though this was difficult to be certain about when seen through the very steamy cornea. Hot packs and atropin were used and in ten days the cornea cleared but both lenses progressed to complete uniform cataract. The tension in the left eye rose slowly but the globe was quiet. The right globe also became quiet and tension never rose above 25 mm. Schi^tz. After three months I did an extracapsular linear extraction (right eye) with deep scleral incision, found a very soft gummy lens, washed out most of the cortex, the rest was absorbed. Now there is a very deep anterior chamber with a thin secondary membrane. The patient can count fin­gers at eight to ten feet and the globe is quiet. Should I do a discission?

I am interested in finding a satisfac­tory explanation for the phenomena in the corneas and lenses; the lenses were not traumatized and I do not believe that any retinal hemorrhage occurred, as the field of the right eye is good. X

OBITUARIES Samuel Theobald

In the death of Samuel Theobald, on December 20, 1930, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, ophthalmology, general medicine, and a large circle of friends sustained a great loss.

He came from lines distinguished in the art and science of medicine. His father sprang from English stock. The first member of the Theobald family in this country, Clement Theobald, set­tled in lower Norfolk County, Virginia, in 1641. On his mother's side, his great grandfather, Dr. Nathan Smith, organ­ized the medical schools of Yale, Dart­mouth, and Bowdoin, and assisted in the founding of Jefferson Medical School of Philadelphia. He was one of the great pioneers of American Medi­cine. The grandfather of Dr. Theo­bald, Dr. Nathan Ryno Smith, called "the Emperor", cooperated with his father and other distinguished men in the organization of the Jefferson Medi­cal College just mentioned. He was one of the pioneers in otology in America. The French gave him the title of "the Nestor of American surgery".

Samuel Theobald, son of Dr. Elisha Warfield Theobald and Sara Frances Smith Theobald, was born in Baltimore on November 12, 1846. On April 30, 1867, Dr. Theobald married Caroline Dexter De Wolf, of Bristol, Rhode Is­land—a happy union that lasted sixty-one years. He is survived by two daughters, one son, eleven grandchil­dren, and fourteen great grandchildren.

Dr. Theobald received his early edu­cation at a well known private school in Baltimore. Later, instead of going to college, he worked and studied in the office of his grandfather, Dr. Nathan Ryno Smith; and in 1867, when twen­ty-one years of age, he graduated at the University of Maryland. After his graduation, he continued his associa-