758 PEKCY FRIDEKBEKG 



on endocrin balance may well account for the disposition of the tiger, the 

 ox, and the horse, and disposition here means that one tends to produce 

 adrenalin, the other thyroxin. 



Defensive states and defensive reactions are mediated by recognition 

 of danger at a distance by the eye, and conversely, the eye is the index 

 of the emotional state, fear, rage, or desire. 



Habitual emotion means temperament and character, as habitual 

 gesture becomes expression, and the glance or look is, finally, looks (cf. 

 visage, vultus, gesicht, prosopon). 



Ophthalmo-Biology. Ocular Malformations and Degenerative Proc- 

 esses. The normal incidence and rhythm of all biologic processes seems 

 to depend largely on the inheritance and continued balanced action of hor- 

 mones and of vitamine supply. A review of ocular malformations and de- 

 generative processes cannot leave these factors out of consideration. 



Such dramatic situations as those presented by myxedema, cretinism, 

 and tetany, and the grave disturbances in organic functional processes 

 caused by operative removal of ovary and testis, indicate sufficiently the 

 importance of that balanced interrelation of the glands of internal secre- 

 tion for which we may coin the word eucrinism. 



So far but little attention has been paid to ophthalmic implications 

 of these conditions, but data are at hand, mainly from animal experimenta- 

 tion which throw some light on certain well known and definite disturb- 

 ances of ocular function, form, and nutrition, and show a fruitful field for 

 further study. 



Most of the transmitted defects of the eye follow Mendelian rules and, 

 with the exception of those which are sex-linked, would appear to be 

 dominant characteristics. 



The eye and its appendages would appear to be unusually subject 

 to developmental defects and congenital disease. This attribute has been 

 explained by the great diversity of histological elements concerned in the 

 structure of its numerous tissues, a diversity which may in part account 

 for the fact that the rudimentary deposit (anlage) of the eye dates from 

 the earliest epoch of embryonic existence, while its normal development is 

 spread over an exceedingly large part, in fact the whole, of intra-uterine 

 life.. The complication and multiplicity of physiological functions united 

 in this one organ may have something to do, also, with susceptibility to 

 such disturbances of developmental timing or proportion. 



The eye of lower vertebrates, as fishes and lizards, is very susceptible 

 to experimentally controlled disturbances not only of mechanical con- 

 ditions but of nutritional states. Stockard has shown that by merely inter- 

 fering with the oxygenation of these embryos it is possible to produce, 

 at will, a fused eye, a cyclopean eye or an anophthalmic monster, while 

 the development and distribution of ocular pigment can be controlled and 

 modified by similar agencies. 



