388 



NEW em; LAM) FARxMEU, 



June 25, 1830. 



Hfbvav)) ot Jlsrful BnotolrtaE^^d^armcts' Srtfes. 



DISKASES OF HORSES. 



^Continued.] 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 



Occasioiinlly a Wound isiiiflicied by a passioii- 

 atf or careless scrvuiii. The eye its.-lf is rarely 

 injured. It is placed <.ii a mass ol lUt, and it 

 turns most readily, and the prong of the fork glan- 

 ces oft'; liut the substance around the eye may be 

 deeply wounded, and very i;onsiderablc iiiflannna- 

 tion may ensue. This sliouM be abate.l by i.oulti- 

 ces, and bleeding, and physic ; but no (-robe should 

 be used, under the foolish idea of ascertaining 

 the depth of the wound, for, from the constant 

 motion of the eye, it is almost impossible to pass 

 the probe into the original wound, and the ef- 

 fort to accomplish it will give a great dral of pain, 

 and increase the intlaniniation. 



The horse has occasionally a scaly eruption on 

 llie edges of the eyelids, attended with great itch- 

 ing, in the effort'to allay «bich, by rubbing the 

 paTt the eye nuiy be blemished. The nitrated 

 ointment of <piicksilver, mixed with an equal quan- 

 tity of lard, may be slightly rubbcil on the edges 

 of the lids with considerable good effect. 



Warts are sometimes attached to the edges of 

 the lids, and are a source of great irritation. 

 When rubbed they bleed, and the common opin- 

 ion is true tliat they arc |_)ropagatcd by the blood. 

 They may be taken off with a sharp pair of scis- 

 sors, ami their roots touched with the lunar caus- 



tic. 



The Haw may be thickened, and project on 

 the fore part of the eye. The eye is drawn back 

 by the retractor muscle to relieve it from the pain- 

 ful iMtluenceof the light; and the haw being thus 

 pusbcil forward, an<l thickened, noil the neigh- 

 boring parts thickened, is unable to retract. Cool- 

 ing applications, and bleeding and |)hysic, will ge- 

 nerally set all right. The farrier who talks of 

 cutting out this important organ must be exceed- 

 ingly ignorant. 



In a very few instances long continued mflam- 

 malion of the haw is followed by ulceration and 

 eating away of the cartilage. If the Goulard 

 lotioii', and that succeeded by the white vitriol, fail 

 to abate the inllanunalion or to retract the part, it 

 may be necessary to extirpate it. The horse nuist 

 be east, and the aid of a veterinary surgeon is in- 

 dispensable, for he alone can dclerniine how much 

 of the neighboring mendirancs must likewise be 

 riinoved. 



COMMO.V INKI.AMSIATIO.N OF THF. EYE. 



The Common Injlammation is generally sudden 

 111 its attack. The lids will be found swelled, the 

 eyes partially closed, with some wee|)iiig. The 

 inside of the lid will be red, some red streaks 

 visible on the white of the eye, and the cornea 

 slightly dim. This is usually connected with 

 some degree of catarrh or cold ; but it is as ofken 

 unaccompanied by this, and depends on external 

 irritation, as a blow, or the preseneo of a bit of 

 hay-seed or oat-husk within the lid, and towards 

 the outer corner where the haw eainiot reach it : 

 therefore the lids sliould always be carefully ex- 

 amined as to this possible source of the complaint. 

 The health of the animal is generally not at all af- 

 fected ; ho feeds well, and performs his work with 

 his usual spirit, fooling applications to the eye, 

 as the CJoidard's r.xtract in the proportinh of a 

 drachm, or half an oimce of the titiclurr of opium, 

 to a pint of water, with mash diet, and gentle phy- 



sic, will usually gel rid of this ; or the influmma- 

 tion will subside without medical treatment. 



SPECIFIC OIMITIIALMIA, OR MOO.>--m,I.>DNE39. I 



Should three or four days pass, and the inflam- ' 

 ■nation not be abated, we may begin to suspect 

 that it is the true Ophllialmia, especially if the eye j 

 be very impatient of light, and the cornea be con- 

 siderably clouded: the aqueous humor then often 

 loses its transparency, even the iris changes its 

 color, and the pupil is exceedingly contracted. 

 We have now an obstinat(! disease to combat, 

 and one which will generally maintain its ground 

 in spite of all our efforts. For three, or four, or 

 five weeks, the inflammation will remain un<li- 

 minished, or if it a| pear to yield on one day, it 

 will return wilh redoubleii violence on the next. 

 .\t length, and often unconnected with any of the 

 means we have been using, the eye begins to bear 

 the light, the redness on the membrane of the j 

 lid ami the white of the eye somewhat suddenly i 

 disappears, the cornea clears up, and the only ves- ' 

 ti"e of disease which remains is a slight thicken- 

 ing of the lids, and apparent uneasiness when ex- 

 posed to a very strong light. 



If we imagine that we have got rid of the disease 

 we shall be sadly disappointed, for in the course 

 of six weeks or two months, either the same eye 

 undergoes a second and similar attack, or the other 

 eye becomes affected. All again seems to pass 

 over, except that the eye is not so perfectly restor- 

 ed, and a slight, deeply seated cloudiness begins 

 to appear ; and after repeated attacks, and alter- 

 nations of di.seaso from eye to eye, the affair ter- 

 minates in opacity of the lens or its capsule, atten- 

 ded with iierfect blindness either of one eye or 

 both. This affection was formerly known by the 

 name of 7noo7i-bli)ulness, from its periodical retufu, 

 and some supiioscd influence of the moon. That 

 planet, however, has not, and cannot have any- 

 thing to do with it. 



What is the practitioner doing all this while? 

 He is an anxious and busy, but almost powerless 

 spectator, lie foments the eyes with warm water, 

 or applies cold lotions with the extract of lead or 

 opium, or poultices to which these drugs may be 

 added ; he bleeds, not from the temporal artery, 

 for that does not supply the orbit of the eye, but 

 from the angular vein at the inner corner of the 

 eye, or by scarifying the lining of the lid, or by 

 subtracting a considerable quantity of blood from 

 the jugular. The scarifying of the lids, which 

 may be easily accom|:lishcd without a twitch by 

 exposing the inside of the lids, and drawing a 

 keen lancet slightly over it, is the most effectual 

 of all ways to abate inflammation, for we arc then 

 immediately unloading the distended vessels. He 

 places his setous in the cheek, or his rowels under 

 the jaw ; and he keeps the animal low, and phy- 

 sics, or gives fever medicine (digitalis, nitre, and 

 emetic tartar) ; or, as some have done, considering 

 it as a constitutional disease, administers the cor- 

 ro>ive sublimate daily in doses of a scruple. The 

 disease, however, ebbs and flows, retreats and at- 

 tacks, until it reaches its natural termination, blind- 

 ness of one or both eyes. 



The horse is more subject to this disease from 

 the age of four to six years than at any other pe- 

 riod. He has then completed his growth: he is 

 full of blood, and liable to inflamnuilory com- 

 plaints, and the eye is the organ allacked from a 

 pecidiiir iiredisposilinn in it to inflammation, the 

 iialure or cause of which cannot bo explaineil. 

 I'Aery afloction of the eye aj>l>cnring about this 



age must be regarded with much suspicion. It 

 is a coiiiinon opinion that black horses are more 

 subject to blindness than others. We have con- 

 siderable doubt abotit this, or rather we believe 

 that color lias no influence either in producing or 

 aggravating the disease. 



As this inalaily so frequently destroys the sight, 

 and there are certain periods when the iiiflainnia- 

 tion has seemingly subsided, and the inexperienc- 

 ed person would be deceived into the belief that 

 all danger is at an end, the eye should be inost 

 carBfully examined at the time of purchase, and 

 the examiner should be fully aware of all the iiii- 

 nu'e indications of previous or approaching dis- 

 ease. They are a slight thickening of the lids, 

 lorpuckeriiig towards the inner corner of the eye, 

 I a difference in the apparent size of the eyes ; a 

 clcudiiies.s, although perhaps scarcely perceptible, 

 of the surface of the cornea, or more deeply scat- 

 ! ed, or a hazy circle rounrl its edge : a gloominess 

 : of the eye generally, and dulness of the iris ; or 

 a minute, faint, dusky spot in the centre, with or 

 >vithout little fibres or lines diverging from it. 



The cause of this inflammation is undoubtedly 

 a strong predisposition to it in the eye of the horse,^ 

 bit a.ssisted by the heated and poisoned air ot 

 iinny stables. Some of our readers whose stables 

 aic not too air-tight, see frequently a great deal ol 

 tlis disease ; but if they knew its ravages where 

 several horses are crowded together, and scarcely 

 a krcath of air admitted, they would deem them- 

 seVes comparatively fortunate. The heated air 

 ha much to do with the production of the dis- 



ciBe; the poisoned air a great deal more; for 



every one must have observed, on entering a close 

 stiblc early in the morning, strong fumes of harts- 

 hern, which were painful to his eyes and cause 1 

 thtm to water. What must be the constant ac- 

 tion of this on the eyes of the horse r The dung 

 of the h'lrsc, and the litter of the stables, when 

 becoming putrid, give out funics of volatile alkali 

 or hartsh»rn; but besides this, the urine of tin- 

 horse, for some purpose unknown to us. possibly 

 to teach IB to take better care of this useful ser- 

 vant, begios very soon after it is voided to give 

 out an iinniense quantity of this pungent gas. It 

 we are scarcely able to bear it when we stand in 

 the stable for only a few. minutes, we neeil not 

 wonder at the prevalence of inflammation in the 

 eye of the stabled horse, nor at the dilliculty of 

 abating inflammation while the eye continues to 

 be exposed to such painful excitement. Stables 

 are now much belter ventilated than they used to 

 be, and this disease is not so i>revalenl as it was 

 fifty years ago. 



i'he farmer may not be aware of another cause 

 of this disease, to which his horse is more par- 

 ticularly exposed, viz. conflnement in a dark sta- 

 ble Many stables in the country have no glaze.l 

 wiLdows, but there is a flap which is open fur > 

 feu hours in the ilay, or while the carter is en 

 ployed in the stable, and when that is shut down 

 almost total darkness prevails. Let our ivadcr 

 consider what are his sensations when be sudden- 

 ly ;mcrges from a dark room into the full glare of 

 llgbt ; ho is dazzled and bewildered, ond some 

 tiiic passes before his vision is distinct. Let this 

 be n-pealed several times in the day. and what 

 will bo the consequence ? The sight will be dis- 

 ordered, and the eye irreparably injured. Tim 

 let him think of his poor horse, who ofleii stuin 

 bio and starts through no fault of bis own, :i 

 though ho is corrected for so doing, but bccau- 

 his eyes are nocessorily weakened by these sudtb i 



