STAPHYLOMA. 547 



a needle and thread, and have cut it out with a scalpel ; but 

 should there be any difficulty in doing this, the nitrate of silver 

 or caustic potash may be applied with freedom. The eschar of 

 one cauterisation should be allowed to fall off, and the effects to 

 subside, before the application of the caustic is repeated. 



The staphyloma due to dropsy of the eye admits of but one 

 remedy, and that may prove to be only palliative. The cornea 

 IS to be punctured, to allow the escape of the contained fluids. 

 If this operation is not performed, the cornea will in time be 

 absorbed ; the contents of the eyeball will then escape, and the 

 eye itself become entirely destroyed. This form of staphyloma 

 is generally met with in pet dogs, especially the King Charles 

 spaniel, and is a source of great grief to their lady owners. 

 After the operation of puncturing the eyeball, purgatives and 

 " short commons " are to be prescribed. 



Ulcers on the cornea are best treated with the nitrate of 

 silver, either in solution or in its solid form. If there is con- 

 stitutional disease or debility, the general system must be 

 attended to. 



DISEASES OF THE HUMOURS OF THE EYE. 



Yery severe injuries to the eye may cause the character of 

 the aqueous humour to be entirely changed. Instead of being 

 a clear, colourless liquid, it becomes reddened with extrava- 

 sated blood, milky-white by effusion of serum, or replaced by a 

 solid fibrinous mass, which, after undergoing various transforma- 

 tions in colour, from bluish-white, amber, or brown, is finally 

 converted into a pearly- white material, partially or wholly filling 

 up the anterior chamber, causing total blindness of the eye 

 affected, or interfering with vision to a very great extent. 



GLAUCOMA, 



A disease in which the vitreous humour loses its transparency, 

 and assumes a blue colour. It is a very uncommon disease, 

 and is usually associated with cataract or with amaurosis. It 

 has been said that in glaucoma the hyaloid membrane covering 

 the vitreous humour is absorbed, and that the humour is in an 

 unconfined fluid condition. In some dissections that I have 



