The research workers at the Eye Clinic of the Medical Academy of Erfurt are proud of having been entrusted, for the second time, with the organization of the yearly ISCEV symposium. Twelve years ago the 6th Symposium was held in Erfurt. This time we turned to Reinhardsbrunn, an old castle situated in the vicinity of Erfurt on the fringes of the wonderful mountainscape of the Thuringian Forest. Reinhardsbrunn castle serves today as a holiday hotel and convention place. It seemed to us to be the right place for carrying on the discussions in a comfortable and informal way after the actual sessions were over. Comparing the scientific reports read at the 6th and 17th Symposium, both organized in Erfurt, one readily becomes aware of the impressive advances in our rapidly developing field of interest. The technical and, more specifically, the electronic advancements have been enormous, especially in the field of recording and processing the visually evoked cortical potentials.. Adually, the addition of this special field of study to our realm, led to the renaming of the Society some years ago. Moreover, it became more and more obvious that interdisciplinary cooperation between ophthalmologists, physiologists, physi cists, technologists and mathematicians is essential. This is also reflected in the composition of our membership."