270 OPHTHALMIA. 



only ; but I have seen it in both. The topical treatment of the 

 ophthalmia of distemper is blended with that of the idiopathic; but 

 the constitutional is referrible to the treatment of distemper itself; 

 for to cure that, is to remove the ophthalmia. 



CATARACT, OR OPACITY OF THE CRYSTALLINE LENS. 



The crystalline lens occasionally loses its pellucid appearance 

 in dogs, as in ourselves, and from the same causes : a common one 

 is idiopathic ophthalmia ; that accompanying distemper but seldom 

 occasions it. In old dogs cataracts are by no means uncommon, 

 from a breaking up of the strength of the parts ; nor are they very 

 unusual either in younger dogs, being sometimes the result of ex- 

 ternal injury, and at others it steals on as a chronic affection of 

 the organ : but there is this difference between the disease in the 

 old and the young, that, in the former, both the eyes commonly 

 become affected ; whereas, in the latter, it is usually confined to one 

 only. In all these cases the before-described powder may be 

 blown into the eye ; but it is very seldom that any treatment arrests 

 the final termination in blindness. 



AMAUROSIS, OR PARALYSIS OF THE OPTIC NERVOUS 

 EXPANSION. 



This is not a very common affection, but it is now and then 

 seen to follow epileptic fits, and I have known it to come on with- 

 out apparent cause also : I witnessed it once consequent to a 

 fall into a gravel-pit. It is not difficult to see the rationale of the 

 disease in these cases, nor are we led thereby to be very sanguine 

 in our hopes of cure. Local and constitutional tonics may be ap- 

 plied, with stimulant applications to the back of the head. 



DROPSY OF THE EYEBALL. 



An accumulation of the liquid contents of the eyeball now and 

 then also occurs, which greatly distends the globe of the eye, and 

 by its pressure occasions an imperfect contraction of the iris. I 



