82 THE ABMY HOBSE IN ACCIDENT AND DISEASE. 



the utmost care is necessary as the needle may punctm^e the eyeball 

 and blindness will follow. 



Treatment. — Keep the parts clean with a satiu*ated solution of 

 boracic acid, and dust with iodoform. 



SIMPLE OPHTHALMIA CONJUNCTI V ITIS. 



Inflammation of the outer parts of the eyeball, and of the exposed 

 vascular, sensitive mucous membrane {conjunctiva) which covers 

 the ball, the eyelids, and the haw. 



The causes of external ophthalmia are mainly those which act 

 locally — blows with whips, clubs, and twigs; the presence of foreign 

 bodies, such as chaff, dust, sand, anmionia arising from the excre- 

 ment, etc. 



Symptoms. — Watering of the eye, swollen lids, redness of the 

 mucous membrane exposed by the separation of the lids, and a 

 bluish opacity of the cornea, which normally is clear and transparent. 

 The eyeUds may be kept closed, the eyeball retracted, and the haw 

 protruded over one-third or one-half of the ball. If the aflFection 

 has resulted from a wound of the cornea, a white speck or fleecy 

 cloud is formed, and often blood vessels begin to extend from the 

 adjacent vascular covering of the eye to the white spot, and that 

 portion of the cornea is rendered permanently opaque. 



Treatment. — Place the horse in a dark stall and bathe the outside 

 of the eye with tepid water; a few drops of the following lotion 

 should be dropped inside the eyelids: Zinc sulphate 20 grains, boracic 

 acid 1 dram, fluid extract of belladonna 1 dram, water 4 ounces. 

 Cover the eye with a clean, dark cloth on the inside of which a piece 

 of absorbent cotton has been sewed ; keep the cotton saturated with 

 the same lotion. This treatment should be applied and continued 

 twice daily imtil the parts assume their normal condition. In case 

 of wound or ulcer on the cornea, make use of a quill, through which 

 blow iodoform into the eye daily. 



RECUKBENT OPHTHALMIA MOONBLINDNESS. 



This affection, sometimes called periodic ophthalmia, is an inflam- 

 mation of the interior of the eye; it is intimately related to certain 

 soils and climates, and to certain animal systems, in which it shows 

 a strong tendency to recur again and again, usually ending in blind- 

 ness from cataract or other serious injury. Continuous exposm-e to 

 bright sunlight is frequently an exciting cause. 



Symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack. In 

 some cases there is marked fever. The local symptoms are in the 

 main those of simple ophthalmia; opacity advances from the margin 

 over a part or the whole of the cornea. An attack lasts from ten 



