LESSONS IN HORSE JUDGING. 43 



and capable of acting as a curtain and keeping 

 out bright glare, which dazes the animal. It 

 widens and admits all light possible when there 

 is not much light to spare. When the pupil is 

 very widely open it gives the eye a glassy appear- 

 ance, and should this condition be permanent, as 

 you will have seen it, no doubt, the disease called 

 Amaurosis, gutta serena, or glass-eye is present, 

 and the eye is worthless. It may be from disease 

 of the brain. 



Instead of being fixedly open, the pupil may be 

 fixed and quite immoveable and closed, or nearly 

 so. This serious flaw arises in this way. When 

 violent inflammation seizes the eye and attacks 

 the ' iris, ' a gluey discharge may occur from the 

 surfaces of the ^iris,' and the back surface of the 

 ^ iris ' may then become stuck to the fore part of 

 the ' lens ' (see Fig. 5, J, I). 



If you refer to the diagram of the iris (Fig. 5, 

 A), you wiU see two or three little black bodies 

 hanging down (Fig. 5, A 4), swinging from the 

 roof of the ^ pupil.' These are quite natural, and 

 appear in the eyes of many if not most horses. 



We now come to the lens, which we repre- 

 sented by taking out a glass from a pair of spec- 

 tacles. This lens (Fig. 5, D, I) is really placed 

 close behind the ^ iris ' or curtain, and is for the 

 purpose of focusing the rays of light so that they 

 form images on the thin membrane we have be- 

 fore spoken of, called the 'retina.' Get a pair of 

 spectacles, or a magnifying lens, and hold it in 

 your right hand, and with it throw a bright light 

 from a window, or a candle, or gas jet on to the 



