42 INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. 



been bitten by his companions, or struck by his 

 attendant ; whether a bit of hay or husk of oat may 

 not have got into the eyes, or other injury may not 

 have happened. In the majority of cases, however, 

 nothing of this kind will be detected. Sometimes the 

 horse will have catarrh, and discharge from the nose ; 

 but oftener the eye alone will be the part affected, 

 and this without any appreciable cause. 



Young horses, about four or five years old, are most 

 subject to it; they are approaching to or have reached 

 their full growth, and they have the consequent ten- 

 dency to inflammation. Black horses are said to be 

 more subject to inflammation of the eyes than those of 

 any other colour; but this assertion requires to be 

 substantiated. Now and then ophthalmia will be very 

 prevalent in some particular neighbourhood ; or two 

 or three horses in the same stable will be attacked at 

 the same time ; — it is epidemic — it is dependent on 

 some peculiar atmospheric influence ; but it does not 

 seem to be in any case infectious. 



Improper management may lay the foundation of 

 this disease. If the horse is kept in a close stable, 

 and his eyes daily exposed to the stimulating ammo- 

 niacal fumes which arise from the animal's urine, it is 

 easy to suppose that the eyes will be weakened and 

 predisposed to disease. This, however, prepares for, 

 but does not produce ophthalmia, which sometimes 

 occurs even in a colt at grass. There is, probably, 

 no complaint that is more hereditary; and it has 

 spread over whole districts from the incautious use of 

 a blind stallion ; or of one that had suffered from 

 serious disease of the eyes. 



