668 BOOK NOTICES

pji, Amsterdam, 1934. 504 pages, 48 illustrations. Price, Gld. IS.

For many years the author has in­sisted that one can hope to understand the conjugate ocular movements in the horizontal, frontal, and vertical planes only when one has studied the coordi­nation of the ocular movements as they occur in the lowest vertebrates upwards through the entire line of vertebrates to man. For over 150 pages, there are re­corded the observations of others and of the author on the results of experi­mental lesions of the brains of various vertebrates as well as of symmetrically constructed invertebrates. After definite injuries to the central nervous system, typical forced movements of the body generally and uniformly appear in the entire series of vertebrates, as long as the cerebellum, the midbrain, and the interbrain are functioning. The same is true in the higher mammals with the exception of the primates and man, where the cerebrum has become the controlling organ and the upright posi­tion of the body has produced a funda­mental alteration in all the vestibular and supravestibular functions. The forced movements of the body in all these animals including man occur in three planes, circular movements in the horizontal plane, rolling movements in the frontal plane, and falling forwards or backwards in the vertical plane. The forced positions of the eyes occur in a manner corresponding to those of other movable parts of animals, such as the tail, fins, and extremities, and can ap­pear as a deviation of the sight in a definite direction. A forced position of the eyes may also mean a condition in which the eyes cannot be turned in the opposite direction (conjugate paralysis of the ocular muscles). There is also dis­cussed the diagnostic significance of the tendency to fall forwards and back­wards in affections of the brain stem and in connection therewith 'the func­tion of the inferior olive. I t has never been proved that a lesion or irritation of cortical centers (without involvement of the striate body) can bring about forced bodily or ocular positions and move­ments. The author states that he has

been experimenting and studying the supravestibular system since 1892. It is only recently that sufficient knowledge of the nerve paths concerned has made it possible to obtain any coordination in the results after definite injuries of the brain stem.

This work is of great importance. It is indispensable to those who would be accurately informed regarding the su-pranuclear connections of the vestibu­lar apparatus $nd of the external ocular muscles. I t discusses all the elements participating in this intricate but funda­mental field. The author is easily under­stood since he greatly simplifies a most complex subject. The very extensive amount of text is appropriately and clearly arranged under headings and subheadings. The author has earned by this work a position of high authority in the knowledge of the supravestibular system.

Harvey D. Lamb.

Ueber die bazillare Aetiologie ver-schiedener Augenkrankhe i ten (Concerning the tuberculous etiol­ogy of various eye diseases). By Prof. Dr. J. Meller, Chief of the I. University Eye Clinic in Vienna. Paper covers, 43 pages, no illustra­tions, price 3 marks. Verlag von S. Karger, Berlin, 1935.

The substance of this monograph ap­peared originally in papers which have been abstracted in the American Jour­nal of Ophthalmology [1932, volume 15, page 995; 1933, volume 16, page 247 (editorial) ; 1933, volume 16, page 370].

Meller not only claims to have proved definitely that sympathetic ophthalmia is tuberculosis locating in the uveal tract of the injured eye, but he attrib­utes to tuberculosis a number of other uveal disturbances not commonly at­tributed to that disease. Both Meller's conclusions, and also the technique em­ployed and the results announced by his pathologist colleague Lowenstein, have been vigorously disputed by a number of leading German and Aus­trian ophthalmologists.

W . H. Crisp.