The Vertebrate Visual System

There are four outstanding features of this work which the reviewer believes will stand as a monumental classic. These are the historic, anatomic, pathologic, and biologic aspects of the vertebrate visual system. The author’s approach was primarily anatomic. Therefore, this section describes in minute detail the gross and microscopic structures concerned with the visual pathways which center chiefly on man, apes, and monkeys. Naturally, there is some repetition concerning the retina and optic radiation from the author’s previous works. However, the 418 pages devoted to these and other structures portray the system as a whole in an orderly fashion and with considerable new material, including a detailed account of the blood supply and drainage. The most helpful part of the anatomic portion deals with the general theory of the organization of the nervous systems and visual functions. Here one finds in review an interpretation of neuronal patterns, especially retinal elements. Biographic sketches with photographs of those who have made significant contributions to this phase of the subject are scattered throughout this section. The first section of this book deals historically with the study of the visual system. In dealing with the pathologic and biologic sections, the historical aspect is also stressed as each topic of discussion is brought into focus.