HORSES AND MULES IX SICKNESS 



lOI 



is known as conjunctivitis, a kind of inflammation of tlu' membrane of the 

 eye which causes watering of the affected eye or eyes. In lime an opaque 

 film seems to settle over the iris, causing partial blindness. Sometimes total 

 blindness follows, and in that case the animal naturally loses much of his 

 usefulness. He might, when blind, be used for easy work at the bases, but 

 in the majority of cases he has to be cast as being unserviceable. 



How to account for it and why it should show a tendenc\' to develop 

 are points not easy to determine. There was a form of ophthalmia among 

 horses in the South African War, and the eye used to burst. The form in 

 France is technically known as irido cyclitis, and the belief is fairly general 



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An operation in a Veterinary Hospital, The patient under chloroform. 



among our leading veterinary officers that it may be induced by a state of low 

 ■constitution, exposure, irregular exercise and errors in feeding. The affected 

 animals show marked fear of the hght of day. If it is difficult to trace the 

 cause there is also doubt as to whether the treatment at present in vogue will 

 effect a permanent cure. " Causa sublata tolliteur effectus " may be the 

 admirable motto of those experts who would first remove the cause in 

 order to banish the effects ; but it is not absolutely certain that the cause of 

 ophthalmia is known. 



It is known, however, that animals fed in America on cotton seed develop 

 a similar condition, and one seems to have an impression rather than a con- 



