INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. 113 



itself is rarely injured. It is placed on a mass of fat, and it turns most readily, 

 and the prong- of the fork glances off; but the substance around the eye may 

 be deeply wounded, and very considerable inflammation may ensue. This 

 should be abated by poultices, and bleeding, and physic ; but no probe 

 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 eflbrt to accomplish it will 

 give a great deal of pain, and increase the inflammation. 



The horse has occasionally a scaly eruption on the edges of the eyelids, 

 attended with great itching, in the effort to allay which, by rubbing the part', 

 the eye may be blemished. The nitrated ointment of quicksilver, mixed 

 with an equal quantity of lard, may be slightly rubbed 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 opinion is 

 true that they are propagated by the blood. They may be taken off with 

 a sharp pair of scissors, and their roots touched with the lunar caustic. 



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 influence of the light; and the haw being thus pushed forward, and 

 thickened, and the neighbouring parts thickened, is unable to retract. 

 Cooling applications, and bleeding and physic, will generally 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 inflammation of the haw is fol- 

 lowed by ulceration and eating away of the cartilage. If the Goulard lotion, 

 and that succeeded by the white vitriol, fail to abate the inflammation or to 

 retract the part, it may be necessary to extirpate it. The horse must be 

 cast, and the aid of a veterinary surgeon is indispensable, for he alone can 

 determine how much of the neighbouring membranes must likewise be re- 

 moved. 



COMMON INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. 



The conjunctiva is the seat of the worst disease, and which is too often 

 destructive to the eye. We may consider inflammation of the eye under 

 two forms— the common and manageable, and the specific and fatal. 

 The Common Inflammation is generally sudden in its attack. The lids 

 will be found swelled, the eyes partially closed, with some weeping. The 

 inside of the Ud 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 often unaccompanied by this, and 

 depends on external irritation, as a blow, or the presence of a bit of hay-seed 

 or oat-husk within the lid, and towards the outer corner where the haw 

 cannot reach it : therefore the lids should always be carefully examined as 

 to this possible source of the complaint. The health of the animal is 

 generally not at all affected ; he feeds wefl, and performs his work with his 

 usual spirit. Cooling apphcations to the eye, as the Goulard's extract in 

 the proportion of a drachm, or half an ounce of the tincture of opium, to a 

 pint of water, with mash-diet, and gentle physic, will usually get rid of this : 

 or the inflammation will subside without medical treatment. 



SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA, OR MOON-BLINDNESS. 



Should three or four days pass, and the inflammation not be abated, we 

 may begin to suspect that it is the true Ophthalmiuy especially if the eye 



I 



