Owing to the great interest in retinal detachment surgery at the present time, there are frequent reports of the best manner in which one should examine the fundus ophthalmoscopically. Proponents of indirect ophthalmoscopy vigorously support this as a new method, which as a matter of fact was first proposed and practiced by Sichel in 1885 and Galezavski in 1886.
It is perhaps discouraging to realize that it has taken almost 75 years for one method of fundus examination to achieve considerable acceptance. Therefore, I believe that one should not feel too discouraged when another method of fundus examination makes slow progress in being generally practiced. I am referring to the much neglected slit-lamp examination of the whole fundus. This most valuable technique is little understood and still less practiced. As the slit lamp really dates from the work of the great Swedish ophthalmologist Alvar Gullstrand, in about 1911, and therefore