102 DISEASES OF THE HOUSE. 



are less perfect. Such animals generally are possessed 

 of a distended haw and sunken eye, and should always 

 be avoided. One eye is generally more frequently 

 affected than the other ; but when one goes the other is 

 not long in following suit. All kinds of wild state- 

 ments are put forward with reference to this disease ; 

 the existence of a wolf's tooth is considered by many 

 as a certain cause of ophthalmia, and its removal as a 

 certain cure of the same. Others hold that only those 

 horses which are subject to the pressure of a collar — 

 thus retarding the circulation of the blood- — are afflicted 

 with it ! All of which goes to prove that the direct 

 causes are frequently indiscernible in the majority of 

 cases. Overnight the horse's eye will be as well as 

 usual, but on the next morning it will be, without any 

 apparent cause, closed and inflamed. 



I must, therefore, conclude that predisposition of the 

 constitution is the chief cause of this disease ; though, 

 no doubt, plethora and foul stables aid and abet in 

 the work. 



CATAEACT. 



The previous disease frequently terminates in cata- 

 ract or opacity of the crystalline lens. 



A cataract usually commences in the centre of and 

 behind the pupil, and is marked by no symptoms of 

 pain or uneasiness during its formation. When a 

 primary disease, all treatment is useless and cruel, and 

 can be attended with no good results. 



