176 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



over. He soon discovers his nristake. The attack comes on 

 again; and now the membrane is more inflamed, the eye 

 clouds thicker, and the aqueous humor becomes more milky 

 in appearance, than before. Once more these symptoms al- 

 most entirely disappear. A close inspection of the e^^e at 

 this time shows a slight depression in the general roundness 

 of its form ; and, after each successive attack, it seems more 

 llnd more flattened, and the aqueous humor whiter and 

 thicker. 



These periodic recurrences increase in both frequency and 

 duration, until, at last, there is no intermission between them. 

 The eye-ball loses its convexity, the aqueous humor is per- 

 manently thickened, the power of the transmission of light 

 is entirely lost, and the hofse becomes blind forever. 



This form of disease is popularly known as "moon blind- 

 ness," from the periodic nature of its returns, which a singu- 

 lar notion has associated with the changes of the moon. 

 But it is found that there is no regularity in the intermis- 

 sions between these returns. They come on much more 

 frequently in the later than in the early stages of the dis- 

 ease, at intervals varying from only six to as much as fifty 

 days. 



TREATMENT. 



We know of no cure for specific ophthalmia. ' The disease 

 has progressed too far for the practitioner's skill to be of 

 much avail, and is too deeply seated to be reached by any 

 direct treatment. In most cases the owner stands by, a 

 helpless spectator of the ruin which is being wrought in the 

 eyes of his favorite. The aqueous humor is undergoing a 

 fearful deterioration, which it is not in the power of mortal 

 to permanently arrest. All that can be done is to retard its 

 progress, and to afford temporary relief. In this direction 

 much may sometimes be accomplished. The hints we have 

 given in a preceding section, in regard to the general treat- 

 ment of diseased eyes, should be acted upon as far as they 

 are applicable. Copious bleeding and a strong dose of salts 



