ir,S THE SEXSORIAL FUXCTIOX. 



nervous influence, so tliat the slightest touch should put the animal on his 

 guard. We would request our readers to touch very shghtly the extremity 

 of one of these hairs. They will be surprised to observe the sudden con- 

 vulsive twitching of the lid, rendering the attack of the insect absolutely 

 impossible. The grooms, however, who cut away the eylashes, do not 

 spare these useful feelers. 



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

 of evaporation, 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 occa- 

 sion. 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 lachry- 

 mal gland, comparatively larger than in the human being, secreting an 

 aqueous fluid, which, slowly issuing from the gland, or occasionally pressed 

 out of it in the act of winking, flows over the eye, supplies it with moisture, 

 and cleanses it from all impurities. Human ingenuity could not have se- 

 lected 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 ixndue quantity and floAvs over the eye, 

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

 ii'ritates the eye, and, therefore, a constant accompaniment and symptom 

 of inflammation. A horse -with any degree of weeping should be regarded 

 Avith much suspicion. In the human being an unusual secretion of tears 

 is often caused by bodily pain, and emotions 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 shovdng all the marks of high blood, Avhom I saw 

 unmercifully cut with the whip a quarter of an hour before the sale, to 

 brine: her to the use of her stiffened limbs, wJiile the tears were tricMinci 

 doivn her cheehs.' 



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

 which we have alluded, formed by the sloping of the under lid, towards 

 the corner of the eye ; and there are two httle orifices that conduct it to 

 a small reservoir ivithin, and at the upper part of the lachrymal bone 

 (fio* i, p. 145). 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 them. From this reservoir the tears are conveyed by a long canal, 

 the lachrymal duct, 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 use borne in mind, for not only 

 horsemen, but even some careless veterinary surgeons, have mistaken it 

 for a glanderous ulcer, and have condemned a useful and valuable animal. 

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

 delicate membrane of the nostril commences. The opening of the canal is 

 placed thus low because the membrane of the nose is exceedingly delicate, 

 and would be irritated and made sore by the frequent or constant running 

 down of the tears. 



There is, however, something yet Avanting. We have a pi-ovision for 

 supplying the eye with requisite moisture, and for washing from oS* the 



