In these pages you will find many intriguing events--some happy, some humorous, others tragic--in the author's experience as an ophthalmologist. In one particularly rewarding episode, Dr. Kurz taught ophthalmologists in Tanzania how to insert an artificial lens into the eye at the time of cataract removal and oversaw the first lens implantation ever in that country. A construction engineer previously unable to read blueprints was so astounded with his restored vision after cataract surgery that when the bandage was removed, he blurted out, "Well, I'll be damned " His exuberance epitomized the observation by Dr. Kurz's professor that ophthalmology is a happy field.