“Welcome, Doctor!” Dr. J. Lawton Smith (1929–2011) was one of the most famous neuro-ophthalmologists to ever live. He had a distinguished career at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, one of the most famous eye hospitals in the world (affiliated with University of Miami). In the 1970s, he recorded a series of lectures on neuro-ophthalmology on reel-to-reel tapes. The goal of these recordings was to help residents learn about neuro-ophthalmology while they were commuting or otherwise free to listen — the original podcast. These lectures in full can be listened to at the following link. While they are a little bit dated, a lot of the concepts are still valid, and they are highly educational and entertaining:
https://novel.utah.edu/Smith/outline.php
Dr. Tim Root, who runs the excellent https://timroot.com/ site and published the highly-recommended and very funny OphthoBook, was a big fan of Dr. Smith and has put many people onto his lectures.
Dr. Smith was a religious man who care deeply for his patients, which becomes clear from listening to his tapes. He was from a rural area of South Carolina, and he was famous for peppering his podcasts and teaching with lots of “down home” and entertaining expressions from his hometown, like “rare as hen’s teeth,” “enough [of some eye drop] to float the Queen Mary,” and “happier than a dead hog in the sun.” Many of these expressions are listed in the glossary section at the end of this tribute to the great man, which is well worth a read if you want to know what an “Acey case,” “Walletectomy,” “Subaquatic workup,” or “serum rhubarb” is all about:
Please find some of my favorite phrases from his lectures here as a soundboard, to help commemorate the great doctor.
Med School Beast 
My name is Barbara B. Hugley from Ft Lauderdale, Fl and I had the opportunity to meet Dr.Smith on a visit in 1973 after giving birth to my son. I was sent to Bascom Palmer Eye Institute upon a visit with Dr. Sing Pannu because I was having trouble worth my vision.(Blurred and Double Vision) He worked with me to find out the cause for an extensive amount of time using various test one I remembered called the tensalon test( not sure about the spelling) shots, eye drops, a lens to cover the right eye, etc. and most of all his prayers each time I met with him. After approximately a year or two of his medical expertise, found out that I had Myasthenia Gravis and Brown’s Hashimoto Thyroiditis. The BHT was ruled out a couple of years ago but I still have Myasthenia Gravis. Dr. Smith was a God sent person to me and I will never ever forget what he did for me and my new baby and my husband. I was 26 at the time and today I am 76 years old still thanking the Doctor who helped me in my distress.
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What a wonderful story! I’m glad that he was able to help you and your family out. From listening to his lecture recordings, I get the impression that he was a very thorough and caring doctor who did the right thing for his patients. I hope his spirit will live on in the physicians of today and tomorrow.
Ahh yes, the Tensilon test is a classic. It is not used so much any more, but my understanding is that it helped a lot of people get their diagnosis of MG sorted out. Thanks for writing in and sharing your recollection of one of the giants of our field!
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