'556 DISEASES OF THE EYES. 



•oi the parts beliind the cornea, and, says the Professor, " Were 

 that once relieved, the cornea would immediately regain its 

 transparency." — (Dick's Muniud of Veterinary Science) I think, 

 however, that an impartial investigation of the matter will prove 

 that the opacity is due to the cornea heing involved in the 

 inflammation. 



PerciVall, describing the opacity of the cornea and anterior 

 chamber, says — " At the beginning, the anterior chamber pre-' 

 ser\*es its pellucidity, so tliat the iris ami pupil can be seen, the 

 latter contracted, the former unclianged in colour: in the course 

 of two or three days, sometunes earlier, the chamber becomes 

 obscured by a dingy^white or amber-coloured deposit floating 

 within it, through which the pupil is hardly discernible, con- 

 tracted, and looking much like the black eye of a garden bean." 

 The opacity of the cornea proceeds from its circumference to its 

 centre, until at last the whole of its svjrface becomes of a dull 

 greyish hue, and in some cases blood-vessels are seen ramifying 

 •oveT it. "N^Taen the dulness is great, the iris is invisible, but 

 when it can be seen, it will be found tliat the pupil is narrow 

 and contiacted, the eye altogether presenting evidence of intol- 

 erance txj light In some instances direct evidence of iritis can' 

 be distingviished earl} in the disease, the iris being of a dead 

 amber colour from a deposit of lymph on its surface, as well aa. 

 npoT' the corpora nigroL. 



Some writers are inclined to give preference to some one' 

 particular structure of the eye as the seat of the disease. I am 

 c^' opinion that it ma} be .considered as j>anoj)7itJudniitis, or 

 inflammation of the whole eye, commencing primarily as "oph^ 

 thalmia interna posterior." 



The remaining symptoms are turbidity of the aqueous humour ;1 

 the corpora nigra lose their jetty blackness ; the pupil becomes 

 more and more contracted; the conjunctiva intensely reddened* 

 and IP some cases the vessels crowd around the mai-gins of the 

 cornea, across which numbers of them shoot in irregular lines • 

 occasionally pus forms in the anterior chamber (hyopyon) ; and 

 in rare instances the inflammation mny terminate in suppuration' 

 of the entire coats, ant^ consequent disruption of their contents \ 

 but the common termination is cataract. 



The*inflammation is apt to move from one eye to the other, 

 tmd for this reason, and on account of its recurrent nature, the 

 disease has been described as " gouty ophtlialmia." 



