CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED 273 



dimness of the cornea, particularly around its margin ; 

 dulness or discoloration of the iris ; corpora nigra, 

 yellowish or spotty ; pupil smaller than the other, 

 perhaps hazy or milky, or containing a minute white 

 speck in its centre, which is incipient cataract." 



Whether or not horses are near-sighted ^ I will 

 not venture to pronounce, although I see no good 

 reason why a preternatural convexity of the cornea 

 should not exist, as in man. I certainly have had 

 several horses which appeared not to be able to appreci- 

 ate some of the commonest objects on the road until 

 they came close to them, although they have been 

 those of everyday occurrence ; and this does not look 

 unlike it. A hack I purchased in Yorkshire must, 

 I think, have been thus affected. Although bred in 

 Yorkshire, a heap of stones by the road-side was an 

 object of terror to him ; and although I once rode him 

 over twenty-one in succession, he shy'd when he 

 approached the twenty-second ; I have also had 

 horses with apparently very perfect eyes which I could 

 never persuade to leap flying. 



Mr W. Percivall says, " the loss of one eye does 

 not enfeeble sight, because the other acquires greater 

 energy, though it much contracts the field of vision." 

 It is, however, said to render the conception erring ; 

 and the cause of mis judgment of distances is the one 

 commonly brought forward to prove this. Now the 

 following experiment satisfies me, that as far as 



^ It is nearly a century since these remarks were penned, but the 

 observation of the keenly observant sportsman in this matter 

 is borne out in the present day. — Editor. 



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