BOOK REVIEWS 1325

ings, without detailed, nonessential histo-logic descriptions, creating an indelible association in the reader's mind between the clinical phenomena and the underlying pathologic processes. Nineteen of the 44 color plates are histopathologic illustra-tions, placed in such a way as to make correlation with the clinical condition ex-tremely simple. The material of the entire book is arranged so well that ease of orientation is one of its most pleasant features. A short clinical history con-tained in the discussion of each colored illustration adds to the liveliness of pres-entation.

The book was written during the years 1941 and 1942, under great mental, emo-tional, and physical stress produced by the war, and Professor Fuchs is to be congratulated upon being able to create this masterpiece under such adverse con-ditions.

The paper of the book and the plates are of excellent, undoubtedly prewar, quality.

O u r sincere congratulations go to Pro-fessor Fuchs with the best wishes for his future and that of his beautiful book.

Bertha A. Klien^

PHYSIOLOGIE OCULAIRE CLIN-IQUE. By A. Magitot. Paris, France, Masson & Cie, 1946. Stiff paper covers, 457 pages, 235 illustrations. Price not stated. Evidently expecting the book to speak

for itself, Magitot has dispensed with preliminary preface and introduction. The volume, well printed, well organized, and very readable, is apparently designed for the beginner in ophthalmology. An author

index is lacking, and the bibliography is scanty, inaccurate, and not closely related to the material developed. The seasoned student will miss the assimilation of the latest research, the careful documenta-tion, the encyclopedic detail, and the inter-pretive insight that so brilliantly char-acterize Duke-Elder's textbook. Although Magitot, in his earlier chapters, favors unduly many tenuous theories of a previ-ous decade, his treatment of photochemis-try is refreshingly different and, surpris-ingly, includes the latest researches of von Studnitz from Pfliiger's Archiv of 1943, in which the iodopsin of Wald is shown actually to consist of three caro-tenoid complexes homologous to the tri-partite system of cone-oil globules found in many birds and reptiles.

In every section, Magitot features an excellent discussion of comparative physi-ology, and fortunately his stimulating presentation is not relegated to fine print. The author's own numerous researches receive only brief mention but contribute much by giving the volume a personal and authentic flavor.

This book was written under difficult circumstances. The author was in hiding in the south of France, under an assumed name, ignorant of the health and welfare of his family and the state of his property. The liberation of France permitted him to return to Paris where he was united with his family but where, too, he found that the Nazis had ravished his house and library. It is, therefore, all the more re-markable that this excellent work could appear at all.

James E. Lebensohn.