328 INFLA:^rMA'^ONS. 



to produce a cure, care being taken to maintain and support the 

 strength of the animal against the lowering effects of this remedy. 



INFLAMMATIONS OF THE EYE. 



Ophthalmia, or simple inflammation of the eyes, is very com- 

 mon in dogs, especially during the latter stages of distemper, when 

 tlie condition of this organ is often seemingly, though not really, 

 hopeless. On more tiian one occasion I have saved puppies from 

 a watery grave, whose eyes were said to be beyond cure. Apply- 

 ing no remedy locally, but simply attending to the general health 

 of the dog, I have secured the recovery of the affected eye to its 

 normal condition. The indications are, an unnatural bluish red- 

 ness of "the white" of the eye, together with a film over the 

 transparent part, which may or may not show red vessels spread- 

 in"- over it. Tliere is great intolerance of light, with a constant 

 watering. If the eye be opened by force, the dog most strenuously 

 resists, giving evidence of pain from exposure to the rays of the 

 sun. This state resembles the " strumous ophthalmia" of children, 

 and may be treated in the same way, by tue uitemal use of tonics, 

 the pills (62) being especially serviceable. In the ordinary ophthal- 

 mia, the •' white" of the eye is of a brighter red, and the lids are 

 more swollen, while the discharge is thicker, and the intolerance of 

 light is not so great. The treatment here which is most likely to 

 be of service is of the ordinary lowering kind, exactly the reverse 

 of that indicated above. Purgatives, low diet, and sometimes 

 bleeding, will be required, together with local washes, such as (55) 

 or (56). If the eyes still remain covered with a film, a seton maj 

 be inserted in the back of the neck with advantage, and kept opet> 

 for two or three months. 



Cataract may be known by a whiteness, more or less marked in 

 the pupil, and evidently beneath the surface of the eye, the disease 

 consisting in an opacity of the lens, which is situated behind the 

 pupil. It may occur from a blow, or from inflammation, or result 

 from hereditary tendency. No treatment is of avaiL 



