108 CATARACT. 



same as sound eyes, disposed to take the periodic opbthaliiiia. It 

 might be asked me — '' was the original cataract not itself the effect 

 of ophthalmia]" to which I should reply, "certainly not." Itself 

 had no such character; neither did the eye evince the slightest 

 shade of imperfection in which it existed. The real origin and 

 nature of this cataract I do not pretend to know. 



Can a Cataract be absorbed, and thus disappear] 

 This question I answer affirmatively; and my reasons for so doing 

 will be found in the cases which I have thought it worth while to 

 annex to this account. Should 1 be asked. Of what class or kind 

 absorbable cataracts are ] I must still refer my inquirer to the valu- 

 able collection of cases which I have been able to glean from the 

 pages, chiefly, of The Veterinarian. Some who disbelieve 

 either that any such cataracts ever had existence, or that, if they 

 had, by any chance they could become absorbed, may be told, if 

 analogical facts and reasoning will have any weight with them, 

 that cases of the same description are not wanting in human medi- 

 cine, and which are supported upon unquestionable authority. — Dr. 

 Mackenzie, of Glasgow — whose work, " A Practical Treatise on 

 the Diseases of the (Human) Eye," I believe, stands as high as 

 any ophthalmic treatise of the day — informs us, — 



''When the term cataract is used without any appellative, 

 lenticular opacity is generally meant. For instance, when we say 

 that cataract is a slow disease, occupying one, two, or more years 

 in its progress, it is of lenticular cataract that we speak ; for all 

 the others, and especially the spurious cataracts, may he the pro- 

 duct of a few days or hours. It sometimes happens, however, 

 that even lenticidar cataract is fully developed in a very short 

 space of time. A patient was attending at the Glasgow Eye 

 Infirmary with glaucoma and amaurosis of one eye, but without 

 any appearance of cataract. She was present, as usual, on a Mon- 

 day or Wednesday, the eye exhibiting exactly the appearances 

 which it had done for months before. On the Friday I was surprised 

 to find the lens completely opaque, and stellated by radiating lines 

 running from its centre. Richter, however, relates a case in which 

 cataract ivas completely formed in the course of one night. Mr. 

 Walker was of opinion that blacksmiths, and all mechanics who 



