It has been recognized for many years that an understanding of the problems of the formation and reabsorption of the aqueous is the only possible basis for the understanding of glaucoma. However, in spite of the mass of clinical and experimental evidence to show the mode of circulation of the aqueous, most ophthalmologists still are content to discuss their favorite theories concerning the etiology of glaucoma without any regard to such evidence. This paper is an attempt to summarize this material and to present an etiologic classification of glaucoma based on such data.
I. SOURCE OF THE AQUEOUS
Modern consideration of the source of the aqueous began with the great work of Leber1 and has largely been elucidated by Friedenwald and his co-workers. Leber showed experimentally that the ciliary body is the chief source of the intraocular fluid. When the acid dye fluorescein is injected intravenously, and some of