BALKING. 93 



" It would seem a very odd proceeding, I suppose, 

 to suggest eye-glasses as a remedy. Many horses, 

 especially speedy hunters, would find such artificial 

 assistance invaluable. So many are unfit for even 

 ordinary work on this account, that only a visit to the 

 optician could prove their one defect; and establish 

 the fact, that but for it, their value need be no less 

 than that of their more fortunate companions with 

 normal sight." 



I have read lately that the oculists have made 

 great strides in curing defects of vision in man, with- 

 out the use of glasses. Even eyes which have been 

 dimmed from birth by malformation have had the 

 power to see well, without glasses, restored by the 

 best specialists. Many examples were given as 

 evidence that errors of refraction were daily cured 

 by treatment, glasses being dispensed with. Dr. W. 

 H. Bates, of New York City, concludes an excellent 

 article in the New York Medical Journal^ after record- 

 ing many cases cured of near-sightedness, supposed 

 to be irremediable, in these words: "The vision, in 

 many cases of myopia, can be improved very much 

 by treatment without glasses, and frequently this 

 improvement is so marked as to render glasses 

 unnecessary." Could this same treatment be made 

 successful in horses? 



" Certainly, diseases in man and horse are very 

 similar, but such treatment of the eyes would be 

 very expensive, although probably not more so, than 

 that of many other infirmities. It might prove that 

 the horse accused of vices ^ such as shying, balking, 

 swervmg, etc., had none such from inclination; and 



