EVE, DISEASES OF. 285 



of its capsule, or of both. The Ions, instead of remaning clear and transparent, 

 becomes opaque, like ground -lass. There are two kinds of cataract : hard and soft ; 

 the former occurring after the age of, say, thirty-live, and the latter occurring in 

 y>un-j; people. Cataract is said to be congenital when it dates from birth, it is 

 traunuttic when the result of injury, it is secondary when it follows some other 

 disease of the eye, it is diabetic when the result of diabetes, and it is called senile 

 when it is the result of old age. Doctors often use these terms, and it is just as 

 well to understand what is meant by them. There is no doubt that in some cases 

 rataraot is hereditary, and it frequently occurs in several members of the same 

 family. When the parents are irst cousins the children often suffer from catann-i 

 or other congenital defects. Traumatic cataract may arise from a blow or other 

 mechanical injury. If there be rupture of the external coats of the eye, injury to 

 the lens is almost certain to occur. Diabetic cataract is very similar in character 

 to that of senile decay, and is, no doubt, due to the imperfect nutrition of the whole 

 system. Senile cataracts usually occur at from fifty to fifty-five years of age. One 

 eye may be attacked, or both. In some patients the progress of the disease is tapid, 

 whilst in others it may last many years. 



In cataract, the first thing noticed by the patient is, as a rule, indistinctness 

 of sight, or mistiness. Things at a distance are seen with difficulty, and seem as if 

 they were being viewed through a mist or fog. As the disease progresses, near 

 objects are also seen less clearly. People with cataract see best in twilight, or in a 

 dull, subdued light, because then the pupil is more widely dilated. They often 

 shade their eyes with the hand when they wish to look at anything, and they not 

 unfrequently take to wearing neutral-tinted glasses, or even goggles. The patient 

 sees better in an oblique than in a straight direction. From the gradual way in 

 which the complaint comes on, a natural, easy manner is retained, very different 

 from the fixed vacant stare which marks some forms of loss of sight. Indeed, the 

 sufferer never becomes so blind from mere cataract that he cannot distinguish night 

 from day, or make out the position of the window and the shadow of passing objects, 

 and usually he is able to find his way about a house he knows with little difficulty. 

 Objects sometimes seem double, or assume fantastic shapes. The moon is often 

 mentioned as showing these changes remarkably well. Many patients with cataracts 

 see dark motionless specks before the eyes. Medicinally there is little or nothing 

 to be done for cataract. The only thing is to go to an ophthalmic surgeon and place 

 the matter in his hands. There are several different modes of operating for this 

 affection, but the details of these proceedings it would be futile to describe. When 

 children are observed to avoid a bright light in reading or study, or when it is 

 noticed that they hold the book more or less on one side, and nearer the eye than 

 they should, it may be suspected that they are beginning to suffer from cataract, 

 and it should be seen to at once. 



Squinting, Squint, or Cross Eye. This is a condition in which the axis of one 

 eye is not parallel with the axis of the other ; that is, the two eyes do not work 

 together. If the squint be directed inwards, towards the nose, it is said to be a 

 convergent squint ; if outwards, it is a divergent squint; if confined to one eye, it is 

 monocular ; if the squint alternate between the two eyes, it is binocular. 



