72 Inflammation of the Eyes', 



such cases, a little of which may be blown into the eye, through a 

 •quill;, two or three times a week, with as good prospect of success^ 

 as any that I have ever seen tried. Oftentimes however, a very con- 

 siderable degree of blueness or dimness will remain in the outer coat 

 of the eye, in consequence of Inflammation that has been brought 

 on from blows, wounds, or external injuries; and it would be most 

 prudent in these cases, te refrain from using any applications to 

 such specks or opacities, especially, if they do not obstruct vision, as 

 Ihey will, ultimately, be nearly, if not wholly absorbed. The peculiar 

 colour or appearance, however, of such opacities, (as contradistin- 

 guished from the opacity of Moon-blindness,) it would not be easy to 

 describe. Commonly they are circumscribed, and are almost never 

 seen .diffusing themselves over the whole of the outer coat of the eye. 

 The frequency of Moon-blindness amongst Horses, is indisputably 

 owing chiefly, to the hot and foul air of stables; but, that there is an 

 hereditary tendency, to Inflammation of the Eyes in some Horses, 

 which no care or prudence can guard against, no candid man who is 

 in possession of sufficient facts to guide his judgment, can for a mo- 

 ment hesitate to admit. Of late, however, it has become fashionable 

 to deny and deci'y the existence of hereditary disease; which^ to me, 

 seems just as defensible, as it would be to den}-, that of the Sun in 

 the firmament. The eye of the Horse is provided with a partial 

 membrane, called by Anatomists, Membrana Nictitans, the use of 

 which Kiay be seen exemplified in the day-time, by birds of prey, 

 and even, during strong sun-shine, by our common poultry. Under 

 ordinary circumstances, this membrane would seem to be but of 

 small use to the Horse, but, in that fatal disease the locked jaw, it« 

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