THE EYli; 61 



shoots out witli the velocity of lightning, and guided by the lids, 

 projects over the eye, and clears it of oiiending matter. When 

 the muscle which draws in the eye ceases to act, the eye resumes 

 its natural situation in the orbit. There is room for the fatty 

 matter to return to its place, and it immediately returns by the 

 elasticity of the membrane by which it is covered, and draws 

 after it this cartilage with which it is comiected, and whose return 

 is as rapid as Avas the projection. 



The old farriers strangely misunderstood the nature and design 

 of the haw, and many at the present day do not seem to be much 

 better informed. When, from sympathy with other parts of the 

 eye laboring under inflammation, and becoming itself inflamed 

 and increased in bulk, and the neighboring parts likewise thick- 

 ened, it is either forced out of its place, or voluntarily protruded 

 to defend the eye from the action of light and cannot return, they 

 mistake it for some injurious excrescence or tumor, and proceed 

 to cut it out. The " haw in the eye" is a disease well known to 

 the majority of grooms, and this sad remedy for it is deemed the 

 only cure. It is a barbarous practice, and if they were compelled 

 to walk half a dozen miles in a thick dust, without being per- 

 mitted to wipe or to cleanse the eye, they would feel the torture 

 to which they doom this noble animal. A little patience having 

 been exercised, and a few cooling applications made to the eye 

 while the mflammation lasted, and ai'terwards some mild astrin- 

 gent ones, and other proper means being employed, the tumor 

 would have disappeared, the haw would have returned to its 

 place, and the animal would have discharged the duties required 

 of him without inconvenience to himself, instead of the agony to 

 which an unguarded and unprotected eye must now expose him. 



The loss of blood occasioned by the excision of the haw may 

 frequently relieve the inflammation of the eye ; and the evident 

 amendment which follows induces these wise men to believe that 

 they have performed an excellent operation ; but the same loss 

 of blood by scarification of the overloaded vessels of the con 

 junctiva would be equally beneficial, and the animal would not 

 be deprived of an instrument of admirable use to him. 



The eye is of a globular figure, yet not a perfect globe. It is 

 rather composed of parts of two globes ; the half of one of them 

 smaller and transparent in front, and of the other larger and the 

 coat of it opaque, behind. We shall most conveniently begin 

 with the coats of the eye. 



The conjunctiva, f (Fig. 7), is that membrane which lines the 

 'ids, and covers the fore-part of the eye. It spreads over all that we 

 can see or feel of the eye, and even the transparent part. It is 

 itself transparent, and transmits the color of the parts beneath 

 It is very susceptible of inflammation. 



