596 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF OPHTHALMOLOGY OCTOBER, 1973

grams from such units as the Industrial Eye Health and Safety Committee of National Society for the Prevention of Blindness (United States).

Two days were devoted to more than 40 papers concerning vision and transporation by road, rail, sea, air, and space. André Du-bois-Poulsen of France, in continuing stud­ies on glare, indicated lessening difficulties with longer wave length sources. Herbert Schober of Munich reported some of his many studies in the visual physiology of driving particularly the quantitation of an increase in night myopia with age. Thus, the driver over 50 years old requires more fre­quent refraction. Both hard and soft contact lens studies in transport were described by Lum Krejci of Czechoslovakia, Jean Paul Boisin of France, and others. Night vision remains a major transport hazard. It is diffi­cult to measure, nearly impossible to im­prove, and complicated by age, diabetes, al­cohol, and opacities or irregularities of the media. A. Th. Van Balen of the Nether­lands, Secretary General of the International Society for the Prevention of Blindness, documented the necessity of uniform opto-types and contrast as preliminaries to stan­dardization of acuity measurements. Haru-take Matsuo of Japan emphasized the impor­tance of testing contrast sensitivity (gray scale) in the night transport worker. A pa­per by Arthur H. Keeney on 5.3 million Pennsylvania drivers showed that 15% of li­censed, but visually restricted, drivers had crash records. Several other papers dealt with the need for kinetic (dynamic) vs. static methods in acuity testing (Renee Pigassou, Phillipe Lathony, Joachim Schulze, Pilar Chi-velet).

Many major practitioners from Europe and South America presented reviews of various injuries, industrial case series, and pleas for specific techniques or standards. Others addressed themselves to protective lenses, illumination, prosthetics, rehabilita­tion, legislation, and public awareness.

Organization of the Congress grew from

an 11-nation session on visual standards for driving at the XXI International Congress of Ophthalmology, Mexico City, 1970, and a subsequent session on trauma and industrial problems at the IV European Congress of Ophthalmology, Budapest, in April 1972. An interim meeting is planned with the XXII International Congress in Paris, May 1974. The next World Congress is projected for 1977. The United States representative was J. F. Novak and the English representative was A. I. Friedman, successor to Arnold Sorsby at the Royal Eye Hospital, London.

Excellent auditorium facilities and good four-language translations were provided by the Palacio de Congresos.

Arthur H. Keeney

SIXTEENTH NATIONAL CONGRESS O F T H E COLOMBIAN SOCIETY O F

OPHTHALMOLOGY The 16th National Congress of the Colom­

bian Society of Ophthalmology was held from April 15-18, 1973, in Barranquilla, a pleasant resort on the Carribean coast of Co­lombia. The scientific program was height­ened by the presence of illustrious guests from Europe, North and South America. They included Professors Roberto Sampao-lesi from Buenos Aires, Rafael Bartolozzi from Madrid, Benjamin Boyd from Pan­ama, Frank Polack from Florida, Jorge Buxton and Luis Uribe from New York. Drs. Polack and Buxton were visiting pro­fessors sponsored by the Pan American As­sociation of Ophthalmology. They gave a six-hour precongress course on corneal dis­eases on Sunday, April 15, emphasizing the diagnosis and treatment of herpetic keratitis as well as the use of soft lenses in corneal pathology.

Professor Bartolozzi gave a complete course on neuro-ophthalmology, ophthal-moscopy, and described his techniques of retinal surgery. The new concepts of glau­coma, its diagnosis and treatment using the

VOL. 76, NO.4 MEETINGS, CONFERENCES, SYMPOSIA 597

newest microsurgical techniques, were givenby Professor Sampaolesi. The lectures weremagnificently illustrated with the author'sdrawings and photography. The varioustechniques of cataract surgery were de­scribed and discussed by Professors Boydand Uribe and followed by a round-table dis­cussion.

The program included a series of paperson glaucoma, retinal pathology, strabismus,

ocUlar tumors, corneal diseases, and micoticinfections of the eye. Social events closed thedaily scientific sessions, including an eveningbeach party with typical Colombian dancesand songs.

This successful congress was attended' notonly by Colombian ophthalmologists, butophthalmologists from Central and SouthAmerica as well.

Arnulfo Mansur

BLIND SPOTOOTROPIA

ESOlROPIA

HYPEROPIA

APHAKIAPrepared by Virginia Howard

Louisiana State UniversityMedical Center

New Orleans