SOUNDNESS AND UNSOUNDNESS 253 



to the strong common-sense of its author — is 

 "The Illustrated Horse Doctor," by Mayhew, 

 published by W. H. Allen & Co., London. On 

 page 45 is a very useful passage : " Never buy 

 the horse with imperfect vision ; never have the 

 interior of your stable whitewashed." Then what 

 colour is to be employed ? Probably blue would 

 absorb too many of the rays of light, at all 

 events it seems preferable to copy Nature. Green 

 is the livery of the fields. In these the eyes 

 take no injury, although the horse's head be bent 

 towards the sfrass for the greater number of the 

 hours. Consequently the writer recommends 

 that green wash, which is cheap enough, should 

 be employed instead of the obnoxious white for 

 the interior of stables. 



Mayhew, in his article on cataract, says that 

 "Cataract is a white spot within the pupillary 

 opening. The spot may be indistinct or con- 

 spicuous — soft, undefined, or determined ; it may 

 be as small as the point of a needle, or so big 

 as to fill the entire space ; in short, any indication 

 of whiteness or opacity upon the pupil is regarded 

 as a cataract. 



Now prevention is better than cure. It is 

 evidently the duty of the humane and careful 

 horse-owner, who does not wish to go through 

 a scientific course to learn the diseases of the 

 eye — and they are numerous — it is evidently the 

 duty, I emphatically repeat, to keep your stable 

 sweet, to have the walls the reverse of dazzling 

 white, not to have racks immediately above a 

 horse's head, so that the seeds of hay are apt 



