OPACITY OF THE CORNEA. 75 



such an operation, becomes necessary to enable us to remove it. 

 If the hay- seed, or whatever it may turn out to be, had not got 

 hitched or fixed in the membrane, the flow of tears which immedi-' 

 ately followed its introduction would have been certain to have 

 washed it away, aided, as the ablution always is, by the detersive 

 operation of the membrana nictitans. On this account no foreign 

 body could possibly remain upon the cornea, nor within the shallow 

 channel of the under eyelid : nowhere, in fact, but fixed underneath 

 the upper lid. ° . 



The offending substance extracted, the case may be said to have 

 received its remedy : at least, only such additional or after-treat- 

 ment will be required as is calculated to allay and remove the 

 effects of irritation. It seldom happens that any abstraction of 

 blood is required. Cathartic medicine may be called for; or 

 common enemee may suffice. Poppy fomentation to the eye will 

 be found most availing in the first instance : should any weakness 

 or opacity of the eye itself remain, astringent or stimulant collyria 

 may be demanded. 



OPACITY OF THE CORNEA. 



There are two kinds of opacities : one is the result of injury to 

 the cornea ; the other of disease. A horse gets a lash in the eye 

 from a whip, or a blow from a stick, or a bite from another horse : 

 the result is a small wound of the cornea, penetrating through its 

 outer lamellae, a little flap of which is commonly to be seen hang- 

 ing from the wounded part. The pain immediately consequent on 

 the injury creates a good deal of irritation, indicated by closing 

 the eyelids and lachrymation ; and this is followed by conjunctival 

 inflammation, the termination of which is opacity of the cornea at 

 the part wounded, and also for a considerable space around it, 

 assuming after a time the appearance of a white or fleecy cloud ; 

 and this appearance is so characteristic of the nature of the case, 

 that, see it in what stage we may, we need no one to tell us how 

 it has occurred. Now and then the entire cornea will become 

 nebulous, as it is termed, from an injury of this sort. 



The same thing may also happen from an injury to another part 

 of the ocular apparatus, occasioning violent conjunctival and oph- 



