DEFECTIVE SIGHT. iS 



eyes of horses, and hundreds are now being daily 

 used for different purposes, whose owners have no 

 suspicion of their being so affected ; and though I 

 should be sorry to make such owners uneasy, 

 truth compels me to say, that the cataract, being 

 so small as to escape casual inspection, is by no 

 means to be held as any security of the lasting 

 goodness of vision ; quite the contrary. Now a 

 good thumping cataract on one eye, completely 

 obstructing its vision, is an honest fellow, though 

 perhaps an unsightly one : there he is, and there 

 he will remain, and can do no further harm; 

 whereas slight cataracts on one or both eyes, 

 though fair enough to look at, are very deceptive 

 gentlemen indeed. Like the Siamese twins that 

 act in concert, they are very likely to lead to total 

 blindness in both eyes. 



Horses that have suffered from opthalmia some- 

 times get cataract in one or both eyes. If this 

 ends in total obscurity of vision in one eye, it is 

 perhaps the very best ending of a bad affair ; for 

 we may then make tolerably sure of the safety of 

 the other: indeed, a horse in this state may be 

 purchased with great safety, and I should say 

 that in the generality of cases the remaining eye 

 would be even less liable to disease than it was 

 before it lost its partner. 



If we can ascertain that Avhen cataract, I mean 

 partial cataract, takes place in only one eye, it arose 



