84 THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 



fallen upon his eyes; and how many accidents have probably happened from liis 

 being dazzled by the light, which have been attributed to other causes ! 



If the horse has no eyebrow, there are several hairs or bristles scattered on the 

 upper eyelid, and there is a projecting fold of the lid which discharges nearly the 

 same office. It is more conspicuous in old horses than in young ones. Some horse- 

 men do not like to see it, and associate the idea of it with weakness or disease of the 

 eye. This is perfectly erroneous. It is a provision of nature to accomplish a certain 

 purpose, and has nothing to do either with health or disease. 



On the lower lid is a useful provision to warn the horse of the near approach of 

 any object that might incommode or injure him, in the form of longr projecting hairs 

 or bristles, which are plenteously embued with nervous influence, so that the slightest 

 touch should put the animal on his guard. We would request our readers to touch 

 very slightly the extremity of one of these hairs. They will be surprised to observe 

 the sudden convulsive twitching of the lid, rendering the attack of the insect abso- 

 lutely impossible. The grooms, however, who cut away the eye-lashes, do not spare 

 these useful feelers. 



The eye is exposed to the action of the atmospheric air, and the process of evapora- 

 tion, destructive of its transparency, is continually going on. The eye of the horse, 

 or the visible part of the eye, is, likewise, more prominent and larger than in the 

 human being, and the animal is often subject to extreme annoyance from dust and 

 insects, while he has no hands or other guard to defend himself from the torture which 

 they occasion. What is the provision of nature against this ] Under, and a little 

 within, the outer corner of the upper lid, is an irregular body, the lacrymnl e:lnvd, 

 comparatively larger than in the human being, secreting an aqueous fluid, which, 

 slowly issuing from the gland, or occasionally pressed out of it by the act of winking, 

 flows over the eye, supplies it with moisture, and cleanses it from all impurities. 

 Human ingenuity could not have selected a situation from which the fluid could be 

 conveyed over the eye with more advantage for this purpose. 



When this fluid is secreted in an undue quantity, and flows over the eye, it is 

 called tears. An increased flow of tears is produced by anything that irritates the 

 eye, and, therefore, a constant accompaniment and symptom of inflammation. A 

 horse with any degree of weeping should be regarded with much suspicion. In the 

 human being an unusual secretion of tears is often caused by bodily pain, and emo- 

 tions of the mind ; and so it is occasionally in the horse. We have seen it repeatedly 

 under acute pain or brutal usage. John Lawrence, speaking of the cruelty exercised 

 by some dealers in what they call " firing" a horse before he is led out for sale, in 

 order to rouse every spark of mettle, says, " more than fifty years have passed away, 

 and I have before my eyes a poor mare stone blind, exquisitely shaped, and showing 

 all the marks of high blood, whom I saw unmercifully cut with the whip a quarter 

 of an hour before the sale, to bring her to the use of her stiffened limbs, ickile the 

 tears were trickling down her cheeks.^^ 



Having passed over the eye, the fluid is conveyed by the little canal to which we 

 have alluded, fonned by the sloping of the under lid, towards the corner of the eye ; 

 and there are two little orifices that conduct it to a small reservoir within, and at the 

 upper part of the lacrymal bone, (fig. /, p. 70). A little protuberance of a black or 

 pied colour, called the caruncle, placed in the very corner of the eye, and to be seen 

 without opening the lids, is situated between these orifices, and guides the fluid into 

 tliem. From this reservoir the tears are conveyed by a long canal, the lacrimal dud, 

 partly bony, and partly membranous, to the lower part of the nose. A little within 

 the nostril, and on the division between the nostrils, is seen the lower opening of this 

 canal; the situation of which should be carefully observed, and its real \ise borne in 

 mind, for not only horsemen, but even some careless veterinary surgeons, have mis- 

 taken it for a glanderous ulcer, and have condemned a useful and valuable nnima' 

 It is found just before the skin of the muzzle terminates, and the more delicate meni 

 brane of the nostril commences. The opening of the canal is placed thus low beoau.st. 

 tlie membrane of the nose is exceedingly delicatp, and would l-.e irritated and madf. 

 sore by the frequent or constant running down of the tears. 



There is, however, something yet wanting. We have a provision f)r supplying 

 the eye with requisite moisture, and for washing from ofT the transparent part of it 



