48 INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE. 



pint of which an ounce of laudanum has been added. 

 Under such a system the eye may become bright; 

 success may seem to have been secured. But let not 

 the exultation be too boisterous. Three or four months 

 pass over, and too often the disease again appears, 

 and attacks either the same eye, or perhaps the other. 

 Specific ophthalmia often changes about from side to 

 side in a manner which is most annoying. This 

 attack is got rid of with greater difficulty; after that 

 another follows : and the horse ultimately loses one 

 eye or both. Hence comes the necessity of being 

 aware of the traces, oftentimes difficult to be detected, 

 which this complaint leaves behind it. The slightest 

 cloudiness of the cornea will engender suspicion that 

 the eye has not been at all times right ; and this will 

 be confirmed if the eyes, or rather the openings of 

 the eyelids, are different in size ; if one of the lids is 

 thicker than the other, and particularly if towards 

 the inner angle there is a little puckering of the lid. 

 There may also be a dim line around the cornea; 

 perhaps a very minute and scarcely detectable spot in 

 the centre of it, — a haziness rather than a spot, — and 

 faint lines radiating from it. Where such signs are 

 detected, a suspicion of the previous existence of 

 ophthalmia is warranted ; and if the horse is young 

 he should be rejected, for in all probability he may 

 shortly suffer another attack of the disease. As spe- 

 cific ophthalmia, however, is not generally seen in 

 matured animals, if the horse be more than seven 

 years old, the above indications should be considered 

 only as they have affected the sight and deteriorated 

 the value of the animal. 







