DISEASES OF THE EYE. 175 



TREATMENT. 



1^0 application will be of any benefit unless the horse's 

 head can be fastened, which will be the first thing to be 

 done. In a mild case, wet the lids with the eye-wash two 

 or threes times a day; in an aggravated or an unusually ob- 

 stinate case, use the mercurial salve, but very cautiously, the 

 edges of the lids being just touched with it. The utmotft 

 care must be taken to prevent it from running into the eye. 



MOON EYES. 



What farmers call " moon eyes " are the effects of a dis- 

 order known to scientific practitioners as specific or periodic 

 ophthalmia- — a disease more to be" dreaded than any other to 

 which the eye is subject. It is an inflammation of the scle- 

 rotic, or outer white coat of the eye ; of the conjunctiva, the 

 delicate membrane covering the front of the eye and the inside 

 of the lids ; and of the iris, the little curtain stretched across 

 the interior of the first chamber of the eye. From the ex- 

 tent to which the iris is involved, this aftection has also re- 

 ceived the name of iritis. 



The conjunctiva is the part which first, and most notice- 

 ably, shows the terrible inflammation. The " white of the 

 eye " wears a deep red appearance ; the cornea looks cloudy, 

 and, perhaps, has a few specks ; deeper down, the iris has 

 lost its bright color; and the aqueous humor, filling the 

 outer chamber of the eye, looks thick and milky. In fact, 

 the eye is now undergoing complete disorganization. The 

 forces of Nature rally to resist the attack ; there is a great 

 and often sudden improvement; and for a time, it seems as 

 though the disease had been baffled. But the same causes 

 which brought on the first attack presently induce another. 

 Thus, for months, or it may be for years, the assaults of 

 disease come and go, each time returning sooner, remaining 

 longer, and evidently of a worse type than before. 



The first alternation of improvement is very likely to mis- 

 lead the owner into the belief that the trouble is entirely 



