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This book is the outgrowth of the author's lectures and experiments in his course on physiologic optics in the Graduate School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania. Its purpose, as modestly stated in the preface, is to convey a working knowledge of ophthalmic optics to students and practitioners who possess only an elementary knowledge of mathematics. In this Dr. Cowan has most assuredly succeeded, for his clear diction in explaining his many experiments and diagrams makes his book most readable and understandable.
The volume is comprised of thirteen chapters and an index. The laws of reflection and of refraction are fully explained in the first five chapters, while the sixth is devoted to "lenses." Here the author gives a clear description of the optical properties of all types of lenses. After having thus familiarized his reader with optics, he describes the dioptric system of the eye.