SIMPLE INFLAMMATION OF THE CORNEA. 497 



Anchylosis of the Knee and Hock are not frequent ; but 

 when seen, they usually have their source in punctures of 

 the cavities of the joints. 



From what has already been said, it will be evident that 

 no treatment will effect a perfect cure in any instance ; w^e 

 can only palliate the symptoms by the means before de- 

 tailed at length ; such as adapting the shoe to the peculiarity 

 of the tread, and soothing the irritation natural to a part in 

 such a state by wet bandages. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



DISEASES OF THE EYE. 

 SIMPLE INFLAMMATION OF THE CORNEA. 



This common or accidental inflammation must be dis- 

 tinguished from that known as the specific or periodical 

 ophthalmia : this usually yields readily to medical treat- 

 ment : in most instances it would be cured by nature. The 

 diseases of the eye have a consequence on the horse un- 

 known to man, wdio, having one affected, is still able to 

 perceive objects distinctly with the other : the horse, on the 

 contrary, has his axis of vision so directed that he sees 

 different objects with each eye ; consequently, when blind of 

 one eye, all things on that side are shut out from his sight. 

 It is said to be a fact, that a blind horse has a smooth coat 

 in winter and a rough one in summer. Nimrod says it 

 happens to nine out of ten. We relate it as we have re- 

 ceived it. There is also another evil connected with an 

 inflammatory affection of the eye in the horse ; which is, 

 the animal is rendered startlish and timid by objects 

 presenting themselves indistinctly upon the diseased side : 

 when both eyes are affected, he is made more so. It is but 

 seldom that this inflammation has other than a mechanical 

 origin : blows, lesion of the conjunctival coat from the lash 

 of the whip, hay-seeds, or other matters falhng within the 

 eyelids, and not being removed by the action of the nicti- 

 tating membrane, are among the common causes. It now 

 and then, in a mild degree, is an accompaniment of in- 

 fluenza ; likewise it occasionally appears as the consequence 



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