376 PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 



dition. The outline of the upper eyelid is usually altered. It 

 presents a slight bend in its internal part, so that the upper 

 joins the lower lid, at the inner angle, by a right in place of 

 an acute angle. This is best marked after several severe 

 attacks, and gives a triangular outline to the opening be- 

 tween the lids. The iris of the affected eye is more contracted 

 than the opposite ; it has lost its lustre, and does not contract 

 and dilate to the same extent as in the normal state, on the 

 access of light and darkness. With the aid of the opthal- 

 moscope, fibrinous deposits can commonly be seen on its 

 surface, delicate flocculi in the anterior chamber and on the 

 anterior aspect of the lens, and the choroid is observed to 

 be altered in hue, with slight elevations on its surface. 



The common termination of periodic ophthalmia is in 

 cataract or opacity of the crystalline lens or its capsule. The 

 iris sometimes gets attached to the anterior aspect of the 

 capsule of the lens, and either remains permanently fixed, 

 or, becoming lacerated during its movements, retains for the 

 future a ragged margin, while the adherence of the colouring 

 matter to the anterior aspect of the lens constitutes lenticular 

 cataract. Amongst the ultimate results of this malady, 

 Reynal enumerates opacity of the cornea ; slight turbidity of 

 the aqueous humour, with greater thickness and a more 

 glutinous character; the formation of false membranes on 

 the iris ; metamorphosis of the lens, more or less completely, 

 into a fibrous or cretaceous structure ; adhesion of the lens to 

 its capsule; partial or complete disappearance of the lens, 

 probably by absorption ; adventitious deposits in the vitreous 

 humour, especially at its posterior part, where, in bad cases, 

 there may be calcareous deposit; fibrinous deposits in the 

 retina, and atrophy of the optic nerve as far as the corpora 

 quadrigemina; similar deposits in the choroid, which presents 

 numerous small rounded eminences ; and, lastly, similar pro- 



