350 HORSE, SWINE AND POULTRY DISEASES 



bing it daily with a mixture in equal proportions of olive oil and 

 strong aqua ammonia. Improvement is usually slow, and it may be 

 months before complete recovery ensues. In paralysis from blows 

 above the eyes the same treatment may be applied to that part. 

 Thickening of the lid may be treated by painting with tincture of 

 iodine, and that failing, by cutting out an elliptical strip of the skin 

 from the middle of the upper lid and stitching the edges together. 



INFLAMMATION OF THE EYELIDS. 



The eyelids suffer more or less in all severe inflammations of the 

 eye, whether external or internal, but inasmuch as the disease some- 

 times starts in the lids and at other times is exclusively confined to 

 them, it deserves independent mention. 



Among the causes may be named : Exposure to drafts of cold air 

 or to cold rain or snow storms ; the bites or stings of mosquitoes, flies, 

 and other insects; snake bites, pricks with thorns, blows of whip or 

 club; accidental bruises against the stall or ground, especially during 

 the violent struggles of colic, staggers, and when thrown for opera- 

 tions. It is also a result of infecting inoculations, as of erysipelas, 

 anthrax, boil, etc., and is noted as being especially prevalent among 

 horses kept on low marshy pastures. Finally, the introduction of 

 Band, dust, chaff, beards of barley and seeds of the finest grasses, and 

 the contact with irritant chemical powders, liquids, and gases (am- 

 monia from manure or factory, chlorine, strong sulphur fumes, 

 smoke, and other products of combustion, etc.) may start the inflam- 

 mation. The eyelids often undergo extreme inflammatory and drop- 

 sical swelling in urticaria (nettlerash, surfeit) and in the general in- 

 flammatory dropsy known as purpura hemprrhagica. 



The affection will, therefore, readily divide itself into (1) in- 

 flammations due to constitutional causes; (2) those due to direct in- 

 jury, mechanical or chemical; and (3) such as are due to inoculation 

 with infecting material. 



(1) Inflammations due to constitutional causes are distin- 

 guished by the absence of any local wound, and the history of a low, 

 damp pasture, exposure, indigestion from unwholesome food, or the 

 presence elsewhere on the limbs or body of the general doughy swell- 

 ings of purpura hemorrhagica. The lids are swollen and thickened; 

 it may be slightly or it may be so extremely that the eyeball can not 

 be seen. If the lid can be everted to show its mucous membrane, that 

 is seen to be of a deep-red color, especially along the branching lines 

 of the blood vessels. The part is hot and painful, and a profuse flow 

 of tears and mucus escapes on the side of the face, causing irritation 

 and loss of the hair. If improvement follows, this discharge becomes 

 more tenacious, and tends to cause adhesion to the edges of the upper 

 and lower lids and to mat together the eyelashes in bundles. This 

 gradually decreases to the natural amount, and the redness and con- 

 gested appearance of the eye disappears, but swelling, thickening, 

 and stiffness of the lids may continue for a length of time. There 

 may be more or less fever according to the violence of the inflamma- 

 tion, but so long as there is no serious disease of the interior of the 

 eye or of other vital organ this is usually moderate. 



