PERIODIC OPHTHALMIA. 377 



ducts of inflammation on the inner aspect of the sclerotic, and 

 puckering of its substance commensurate with the absorption 

 of the liquid contents of the eye. 



Treatment. In a disease such as that before us, preserva- 

 tive measures are much more effective than curative. These 

 will consist in counteracting the various causes which predis- 

 pose to the malady. Among them, efficient drainage, ventila- 

 tion, and cleanliness; the use of aliments of good quality, and 

 the avoidance of sires or dams that may have suffered from 

 the affection, will hold prominent places. 



Its therapeutical treatment is unsatisfactory. Bleeding 

 local and general scarifications of the conjunctiva, purga- 

 tion, fomentations, blistering, setons, rowels, collyria se- 

 dative, astringent, and caustic and numerous medicaments 

 given internally, have been resorted to in turn, with only 

 partial success. With or without these measures, the 

 disease sooner or later disappears; but it is only for a time; 

 and if one or other of the agents enumerated hastens the 

 ameliorative process, very little has been gained, no medici- 

 nal measures can secure the eye against a succeeding series 

 of attacks, until the inevitable consequence, the destruction of 

 vision, results. Different veterinarians have recommended the 

 application to the eye of strong solutions of nitrate of silver, 

 bichloride of mercury, and the like; though perhaps an equal 

 amount of good will accrue from the employment of milder 

 astringent lotions of similar agents. Belladonna may be em- 

 ployed in the form of a lotion, to be applied to the eye daily 

 during the severity of an attack, the object being to dilate 

 the pupil, and break up any connections that may form be- 

 tween the iris and lens. The ordeal bean of Old Calabar has 

 been employed in human medicine to contract the pupil, and, 

 being applied alternately with belladonna, will move the iris 

 through a greater space. When with the fever there is cos- 



