Complete and Incomplete Forms of the Benign Disorder Characterised by Tonic Pupils and Absent Tendon Reflexes

IN earlier papers on this subject it has been suggested that certain apparently dissimilar abnormal pupillary reactions formerly described as occurring in unrelated conditions are manifestations of the same disorder. The abnormal reactions are, on the one hand, the tonic pupillary reaction (syn. pupillotonia, myotonic reaction, tonic convergence reaction of pupils apparently inactive to light, Marcus's peculiar pupil phenomenon, non-luetic Argyll Robertson pupil, pseudo-Argyll Robertson pupil) and, on the other hand what may be called atypical phases of the tonic pupil. In the atypical phases tonic reactions are absent or difficult to detect and the state of the pupil in cases that present them is usually desig- nated by the term fixed pupil, ophthalmoplegia interna, iridoplegia or partial iridoplegia, of unknown origin.