DISEASES OF THE EYE. 265 



M'lIITE SPECKS ANl) ( LOliDlNESS OF THE CORNEA. 



As a result of external ophthalmia, opaque specks, clouds, or hazi- 

 ness are too often left on the cornea and require for their removal 

 that they be daily touched with a soft feather dipped in a solution of 

 3 grains nitrate of silver in 1 ounce distilled water. This should be 

 applied until all inHammation has subsided, and until its contact is 

 comparatively painless. It is rarely successful Avith an old thick scar 

 following an ulcer, nor Avith an opacity having red blood vessels 

 running across it. 



ULCERS OF THE CORNEA. 



These may be treated with nitrate of silver lotion of twice the 

 strength used for opacities. Powdered gentian, one-half ounce, and 

 sulphate of iron, one-fourth ounce daily, may improve the general 

 health and increase the reparatory power. 



INTERNAL OPHTHALMIA (iRITIS, CHOROIDITIS, AND RETINITIS). 



Although inflammations of the iris, choroid, and retina — -the inner, 

 vascular, and nervous coats of the eye — occur to a certain extent inde- 

 pendently of each other, yet one usually supervenes upon the other, 

 and, as the s3'mptoms are thus made to coincide, it will be best for 

 our present purposes to treat the three as one disease. 



Causes. — The causes of internal ophthalmia are largely those of the 

 external form only, acting with greater intensity or on a more suscep- 

 tible eye. Severe blows, bruises, punctures, etc., of the eye, the 

 penetration of foreign bodies into the eye (thorns, splinters of iron, 

 etc.), sudden transition from a dark stall to bright sunshine, to the 

 glare of snow or water, constant glare from a sunny window, abuse 

 of the overdraw checkrein, vivid lightning flashes, drafts of cold, 

 damp air; above all, when the animal is perspiring, exposure in cold 

 rain and snow storms, swimming cold rivers; also certain general 

 diseases like rheumatism, arthritis, influenza, and disorders of the 

 digestive organs, may become complicated by this affection. From 

 the close relation between the brain and eye — alike in the blood ves- 

 sels and nerves — disorders of the first lead to affections of the second, 

 and the same remark applies to the persistent irritation to which the 

 jaws are subjected in the course of dentition. So potent is the last 

 agency that we dread a recurrence of ophthalmia so long as dentition 

 is incomplete, and hope for immunity if the animal completes its 

 dentition without any permanent structural change in the eye. 



Symptoms. — The symptoms will vary according to the cause. If 

 the attack is due to direct physical injury, the inflammation of the 

 eyelids and superficial structvu'es may be quite as marked as that of the 

 interior of the eye. If. on the other hand, from general causes, or as 

 a complication of some distant disease, the affection may be largely 



