Some contemporary concepts of scleral disease.

IN THE preface to his "Manual of Diseases of the Eye," Dr. Charles H. May stated that he would endeavor to give the fundamental facts of ophthalmology. 1 The phenomenal popularity of his manual as a foundation text is adequate testimony that he succeeded; therefore, it seems only appropriate that this lecture presented in his memory should concern the fundamental aspect of some ophthalmologic subject. I have chosen to discuss the sclera because, in comparison with accumulated knowledge of the cornea and other ocular tissues, there is an almost amazing paucity of basic information on the sclera and its disease processes. Even in the most advanced treatises on ophthalmology only a few pages are devoted to this clinically important subject. In the clinics and laboratories of the University of Oregon Medical School, we have been concerned for several years with various problems related to the sclera. Some concepts have necessarily