122 CATARACT. 



Future observation, with these questionable points fresh in our 

 minds, will enable us, at no very remote day, to speak with more 

 confidence than we can well do at present : a few such trials as 

 that of Roberts versus Croft will set veterinary surgeons to 

 work in collecting materials whereon they may erect defences for 

 their professional opinions, and not, by any discrepancy of evi- 

 dence, run a risk of having their reputations undervalued. 



The Vision enjoyed by Horses having cataractous 

 Eyes will depend upon the nature of the cataract, and the pro- 

 gress it has made towards maturity. Should the cataract consist 

 in a general nebulosity of the lens, the degree of opacity will regu- 

 late the vision remaining : on the other hand, should the cataract 

 grow from a central speck of opacity, the sight will be proportional 

 to the largeness or growth of the nucleal deposit. And in this 

 latter case, during the growth of the cataract, the sight will be 

 regulated by the degree of contraction of the pupil : in bright lights, 

 in consequence of the pupil being contracted, vision will be nothing 

 like so good as in twilights, when the pupil regains a state of 

 dilatation ; simply because the rays of light, in the latter case, are 

 able still to obtain a passage to the retina through the remaining 

 unobscured parts of the lens. From the circumstance, however, 

 of the pupil of the horse's eye being oblong, and the cataract, which 

 forms from a central point, being globular — at all events for a time 

 — contraction of the pupil will not, to that degree that it will when 

 the pupil is circular, exclude the light; and this accounts for horses 

 that have cataracts of this description seeing with them better than 

 man and many other animals. 



Remedies for Cataract, save what consist in its removal by 

 an operation, we possess none : the absorbability of cataractous de- 

 posits, either of the lenticular or capsular kind, yet appears exceed- 

 ing problematical ; or, to say the most we dare in favour of it, yet 

 lacks confirmatory cases. 



And to the Performance of an Operation considerable 

 difficulties stand in the way : although many or most of which, by 

 the ingenuity and skill of operators, have been surmounted, yet, 

 after all, has little or no real good resulted from their laudable en- 



