Mind, Brain, Body, and Behavior

LABORATORY AND BRANCH RESEARCH REVIEWS 123

retinal or nerve disease.^15 Combined with adaptometry, which allowed
for the determination of visual field thresholds, such physiological
testing was highly significant in the diagnosis of complex diseases.^16
When Fuortes became chief of the section, the section focused on
cellular microelectrode techniques for studying the electrical activity
of retinal elements, especially those of the horseshoe crab, the frog, and
fish, in an attempt to understand transducer action whereby external
energy (i.e., light) is perceived at a retinal level and then transmitted as
a nerve impulse.^17 The Section on Physiology had a physicist by the
name of Ralph Gunkel who assisted in these endeavors by developing
and constructing many of the necessary ophthalmic instruments and
screening methods.^18
The Section on Ophthalmology Bacteriology did not have an official
section chief throughout the 1950s, but the scientists within the sec­
tion, focused their efforts on inflammatory diseases of the eye (i.e., orbit),
especially the trachoma virus and the relationship between adenoidal­
pharyngeal-conjunctival (APC) and epidemic keratoconjunctivitis (EKC)
viruses with hela cell suspensions.^19 Another major aspect of the research
program involved the etiology and differential diagnosis of uveitis pa­
tients, whose hormonal state, particularly the thyroid function, they also
evaluated.^20 Finally, the section also studied toxoplasma precipitating
antibodies and radioisotope uptake of intraocular tumors.^21

Notes

1. See Frederick C. Blodi, “The History of the National Eye Institute,”
   American Journal of Ophthalmology 115 (1993), 420-5, and Ruth Harris,
   “Brief History of the National Eye Institute,” Government Publications
   Review 12 (1985), 427-48.


2. National Institutes of Health Telephone and Service Directories, Septem­
   ber 1953–June 1955, ONH.


3. Shy, NINDB Annual Report, 1954.


4. Shy, NINDB Annual Reports, 1955-1959.


5. Shy, NINDB Annual Reports, 1955-1958.


6. Shy, NINDB Annual Reports, 1954 and 1956.


7. Shy, NINDB Annual Reports, 1955, 1956, and 1958 ; Ludwig von Sallmann,
   NINDB Annual Report, 1957.


8. Shy, NINDB Annual Reports, 1955, 1956, and 1958.


9. Shy, NINDB Annual Reports, 1957 and 1959 ; Von Sallmann, NINDB
   Annual Reports, 1957 and 1959.