768 PERCY FRIDENBERG 



9 



there can be no question of the cooperation, as a factor, of lowered sen- 

 sibility of the surface of the eye. These mydriatio alkaloids also, it will 

 be noted, check the secretion of tears. 



Ocular Motility. The rate of motion of the eyes in associated action 

 varies with the direction. Motion inward is most rapid; next, motion 

 upward. There is probably an individual, personal, speed or gait and 

 possibly racial peculiarities. The slow movements of the eyes in nar- 

 cotic states, in fever, and in the exhaustion of wasting disease are quite 

 in keeping with the action of the lids in the states noted above. 1 



Excess convergence is frequently seen in hyperopia with eye-strain 

 symptoms and might be considered as a spasmophilic .manifestation or 

 habit. Convergence defect or insufficiency of the internal recti muscles 

 is seen in myopia, often in connection with subnormal accommodation, 

 as a sympathetico-tonic or vagoparetic phenomenon in hyperthyroidism. 



Intra-Ocular Tension in Relation to Nutrition and Secretion. The 

 relative softness or hardness of the globe depends partly on the rigidity of 

 the sclera and partly on the relation between intra-ocular secretion and 

 elimination via the filtration angle of the anterior chamber. The indi- 

 vidual differences in tension depending on age, refraction form, com- 

 plexion, or possibly endocrin dominance, have not been studied. Re- 

 duction of tension after slight contusions of the globe associated with 

 enophthalmus and a contracted pupil suggest a connection of hypotony 

 with vagus irritation or an equivalent sympathetic paralysis. This is cor- 

 roborated by the incidence of lowered tension with neuroparalytic keratitis 

 and other forms associated with anesthesia of the cornea and evidence of 

 lowered trophic nerve influence. 



Increased intra-ocular tension, on the other hand, has been observed 

 in attacks of herpes zoster. Weeks reported a case, and reviewed three 

 others, of acute glaucoma on the same basis. Increased specific gravity 

 of the aqueous and diminished filtrability owing to the presence of albumin, 

 globulins, and possibly other products of inflammation, have been accused 

 as the pathogenetic factor of hypertension in these cases. This view 

 is very theoTetical, based on insufficient evidence, and, it seems to me, di- 

 rectly contradicted by the infrequency of high tension in other inflamma- 

 tions attended with similar chemical changes in the intra-ocular fluids. 

 We must look, rather, for the responsible disturbance of vegetative nerve 



acteristic feature of the fighting face. Habit makes of this ocular gesture an ex- 

 pression seen in the eye of the commander. Relaxation of vagus tone gives us the 

 large pupil, wide lid-fissure and detached, non-fixing, dreamy gaze of such emotional 

 states as love, revery, or ecstasy, and the eye of the poet and dreamer. 



1 Large objects move slowly and large persons (pituitary) are often strikingly 

 slow and "heavy footed." Whether this is a result of mere bulk or part of the 

 physiological endocrin dominance is an interesting question. Compare with this the 

 chipper, bird-like motions, the quick, brisk glance of the restless, eager, inquisitive, 

 and impulsive thyroid type. 



