Of 163 patients suffering from central serous chorioretinopathy, 40 who had been treated by light coagulation and 40 who had been treated conservatively were selected at random. They were examined at intervals averaging 5.7 and 4.6 years respectively after the initial treatment. Central visual acuity, central visual fields and the fundus were examined. The central visual acuity of the light-coagulated patients was normal both after initial treatment as well as at re-examination. In contrast, only one-half of the conservatively treated patients had normal visual acuity following initial treatment. However, after an average of 4.6 years it was normal in 34 cases. Neither quantitatively nor qualitatively was there any significant difference in the functional defects of the central visual fields in the two groups. The incidence of degenerative central retinal changes - above all at the level of the pigment epithelium - was considerably higher in the conservatively treated group than in the light-coagulated one.

This article presents the results of functional investigation of the central and peripheral visual fields of 30 patients 3 years after glaucoma surgery. The authors studied the relationship between intraocular pressure and the site of the visual field, and also between vision and the quality of the central visual field. The results of the investigation support the demand for early surgery in glaucoma cases. Patients should be advised and informed thoroughly, because in 36 percent of all cases the cataract grows postoperatively.

KEY WORDS Digoxin Effect kinetics Colour vision deficienciesMany studies have dealt with the kinetics of the pharmacologic response to digoxin following a single dose (see e.g. Kelman et al. for references). After rapid administration of a single dose, non-equilibrium conditions exist for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes; the time course of the effect is out of phase with the time course of plasma concentration. Both the shape of the drug disposition curve and the equilibration delay between plasma and effect site determine the effect kinetics. Therefore, an appropriate pharmacokinetic model is needed to analyse the pharmacodynamics of a drug following bolus injection or oral administration.' The pharmacologic response following a rapidly attained plateau serum level, however, is exclusively determined by the equilibration process between serum concentration and effect. We therefore investigated the time course of digoxin effects (cardiac contractile performance, electrocardiographic parameters) corresponding to a serum concentration plateau of about 4.5 ng ml-' which was attained almost instantaneously from a zero value by controlled infusion. We also evaluated digoxin-induced colour vision impairment after the 4 h digoxin plateau to get some information on the kinetics of the retinal effect in comparison to the cardiac effects.The investigations were a part of an experiment which was designed to test the usefulness of controlled digoxin infusion to achieve rapidly a serum concentration plateau in normal volunteer^.^ The infusion scheme (method of

The bas-reliefs on the walls of the waiting-room in the out-patients department of the University Eye Clinic in Halle (DDR) have now been identified as duplicates of the majolica bas-reliefs sculpted for the Albrecht von Graefe Monument in Berlin. It is assumed that these duplicates were in the Halle University Eye Clinic during the time when Alfred Graefe (1830-1899) was professor there.