278 THE TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 



flies, hairs, and similar bodies may usually be removed by bathing or syringing ; 

 but should this fail, the eye may be gently wiped towards the nose with a soft 

 moistened handkerchief or with a feather. Coal-heavers, when they get dust in the 

 eye, ask one of their mates to pass his tongue over the eye and the inner surface of 

 the eyelid, and in this way the foreign body is removed. A good plan is to gently 

 brush the eye with a camel's-hair brush moistened with oil or gum. Mortar or lime 

 in the eye gives rise to great pain, and may permanently injure the sight. The 

 eye should be thoroughly washed or syringed with a little weak vinegar and water, 

 and the sooner this is done the better. Should much irritation continue after the 

 removal of the foreign body, two or three leeches may be applied to the temple, and the 

 eye shoidd be bathed with tepid water, or a poppy fomentation may be used. A 

 belladonna fomentation, made by dissolving sixty grains of extract of belladonna in 

 a pint of boiling water, is also useful. Workers in places where splinters of metal, 

 stone, or wood are liable to strike the eye should wear spectacles at their work 

 with strong glass in them not lenses. These common glass spectacles are also use- 

 ful in railway travelling, as a protection against a spark or cinder flying in the eye. 



When, in travelling, a bit of dust gets in the eye, it is best to remain quiet for a 

 little, as the tears may wash it away ; the flow of tears may be promoted from time 

 to time by attempting to open the eye. Blowing the nose violently assists the 

 operation. The head of a pin covered with the end of a pocket-handkerchief, and 

 moistened with saliva, may be moved about between the eyeball and eyelid, and 

 will detach the intruder if not too firmly fixed. Another plan is to get a fellow- 

 traveller to raise the eyelid with his fingers, and then gently wipe the red mucous 

 membrane with a moistened pocket-handkerchief, or remove the foreign body if he 

 can see it. A little piece of paper twisted to a point is useful. A drop of olive oil 

 or castor oil introduced into the eye will often allay pain and intolerance of light 

 produced by a fine irritant, as sand. 



A piece of percussion-cap penetrating the eye only too often means loss of 

 sight. It is an accident that rarely occurs to sportsmen, but is not of uncommon 

 occurrence at country fairs and such places, where people shoot at a mark for nuts 

 or oranges. Children, too, are fond of exploding caps with a stone or hammer, and 

 this is frequently the cause of a mishap. Should the eye be struck, an ophthalmic 

 surgeon should be consulted without delay, or not only may the injured eye be lost, 

 but the other may suffer from what is called sympathetic inflammation. 



Cold in the Eye, or Conjunctivitis, is not a very serious complaint. It may 

 come on without any apparent cause, or may be the result of exposure to cold or 

 draught. Sometimes it assumes an epidemic character, every member of a house- 

 hold being attacked in turn. It generally begins with a feeling of itching or irrita- 

 tion, followed by a sensation of grittiness, as if there were sand in the eye. The eye 

 is red and watery, and a strong light is painful ; in the morning the eyelids are stuck 

 together, and cannot be opened without some difficulty, or until the sticky secretion 

 has been sponged away with tepid water. Usually both eyes are attacked, although 

 the cold may begin in one before the other. If properly treated it soon gets well, 

 recovery being perfect, and no trace of injury being left behind. In the first place, 

 the bowels should be acted on freely by some simple purgative, such as the aperient 



