CATARACT. 505 



with all his reason, has partaken of very injurious drinks ; 

 and it is hardly fair for him to insist his dumb servant 

 should be over choice in the matter of fluids. 



No matter in what condition the eye, which has lately 

 suffered from ophthalmia, may be in, do nothing to it. 

 Trust entirely to nature, and shut your ears to the quacks 

 about you, though each should swear he has in his posses- 

 sion an infallible remedy. Formerly all kinds of stuffs 

 were put into the sore and sensitive eye of the sick horse ; 

 but if you are determined to do something, the following 

 probably may do as little harm as any thing else, though 

 they are far more appropriate to the former disease : — 



No. 1 . — Sugar of lead half a drachm. 



Sulphate of zinc one scruple. 



Distilled water one pint. 



Mix. When the sediment has settled, decant gently, then 

 filter through blotting paper, and bottle for use. 



No. 2. — Crude sal ammoniac one drachm. 



Infusion of red rose leaves one pint. 



No. 3. — Laudanum half an ounce. 



Rose water one pint. 



CATARACT. 



The specific ophthalmia just described has too common 

 a tendency to end in total cataract ; the lens, in the majority 

 of cases that have terminated, is fully involved, and quite 

 white. In other cases that have happily stopped short in 

 their career, spots only of an uncertain size are visible on 

 the lens or upon its capsule ; for a white opaque spot on 

 either is called a cataract. Cataracts, however, can and do 

 exist in eyes that have never been subjected to ophthalmia ; 

 and as they make their appearance without any apparent 

 cause, so they occasionally will depart without any treat- 

 ment. Blows sometimes produce them, and when caused 

 in this manner, they are for the most part stationary. 

 However, in cataract following ophthalmia, there is gene- 

 rally much derangement of the other internal parts of the 

 eye ; particularly of the iris, which sometimes adheres to the 

 lens, at others to the cornea ; and in some cases its pupil- 

 lary opening is so reduced by contraction as to render the 

 cataract hardly perceptible. This internal derangement 



