284 BRITISH VETERINARY JOURNAL, 146, 3

genetically resistant to scrapie, and OLA­typing is not useful in identifying resistance.It seems peculiar that retinal disorders ,hypervitaminosis A and periodic ophthalmiareceive no mention whereas spastic paresis inHolsteins, hypomagnesaemia and hypocal­caemia are regarded as nervous diseases.

Veterinary neurology needs to expand itsfrontiers into the arena of animal behaviourand psychology particularly as non-veterinaryintervention in the interests of animal welfareis increasing. Mayhew's discussion on be­havioural disturbances are confined tosystemic effects and organic illness. It will beincreasingly important for students to bemade aware of behavioural disturbancesarising from suboptimal husbandry particu­larly when these can mimic neurologicaldisease. The sad fact is that the nervoussystem is regarded as a 'no-go area ' for manyveterinarians, but Mayhew's enthusiasm canonly act as a catalyst to encourage morestudents to join the band of veterinaryneuroscientists whose contributions in thepast have far exceeded that expected fromtheir small number.

H. FRASER

Magrant's Canint OphtluJ/mology 4th editionRevised by Lloyd C. HelperBeckenham, Kent & Philadelphia: Lea &Febiger, 1989. 297 pp. £32.33

It is now some 12 years since the publi­cation of the previous edition of this excellentguide to canine ophthalmology. It is thereforea great tribute to the original author that inthis revised edition Lloyd Helper has beenable to retain so much of the previous workand that this material is still both accurateand pertinent.

The organization of the chapters and thelayout of the text in short sections provide asbefore a readily accessible reference sourcewhich is supplemented by a good selection ofphotographs and line drawings. The bookprovides a rational guide to the diagnosis andtherapy of all the common ocular diseases ofthe dog, as well as to a wide selection of thosewhich are seen less frequently.

Dr Helper has been careful not to over­whelm the reader with a vast array of dif­ferent surgical approaches to a problem buthas selected procedures which are widelyaccepted, up to date and which constitute avaluable guide to the inexperienced surgeon.In this unfortunately his views are bound tobe at variance on occasion with those of otherexperienced veterinary ophthalmologists. Therapid expansion of our knowledge in recentyears, however, makes this unavoidable if thebook is to remain of manageable length.

The references at the end of each chapterare an important feature in a textbook of thisnature which does not set out to be compre­hensive in itself but is intended as a basic unitaround which the reader can accumulatefurther information. In this new edition anumber of recent references have been addedbut I feel that these lists could have beenupdated more radically, particularly after thechapters on glaucoma and on posterior seg­ment disease.

Dr Helper's somewhat conservativeapproach to revision of this book means thatthose who already own a copy of the thirdedition are unlikely to gain a great deal bypurchasing this new edition. For students andpractitioners, however, who do not alreadypossess a good modern textbook on canineophthalmology, this new edition would beinvaluable.

PHILIP WATSON