THE HORSE IN SICKNESS AND DISEASE 293 



let alone. Should they cause the horse to shy, blind 

 the eye or eyes in which they may exist. The measures 

 generally pursued, with very doubtful success indeed, are 

 the blowing of mercurial preparations into the eye, the 

 application of caustics, either in powerful solutions or in 

 substance, to the organ, and, in short, all kinds of cruelties 

 more likely to favour the formation than to cause the 

 dispersion of cataract. 



FUNGOID GROWTHS OF THE EYE. 



Small polypous excrescences occasionally form on the 

 globe of the eye ; fungus-like projections are also met 

 with on the transparent cornea, sometimes from injuries, at 

 others apparently of spontaneous growth. When these are 

 evidently of a polypous, or merely fleshy nature, the knife 

 and a styptic takes them off and stops the haemorrhage. 

 If fungoid and bleeding, wash with chloride of zinc 

 in solution ; and red precipitate ointment, thinned with 

 Florence oil, may be painted over it daily with a camel- 

 hair pencil. Observe, if the growth is within the ball of 

 the eye (when a bright yellow substance will be visible on 

 its interior base), extirpation of the eye is the only remedy. 

 It has been often performed, is not difficult, but so barbarous, 

 and withal useless in an animal of which such services are 

 demanded, that a speedy death is the more humane and 

 advisable alternative. 



In lacerations of the eyelid, from a blow against a nail, 

 hook, or other projection, obtain union of the parts by a 

 suture of thread, and it will generally heal from the first 

 intention. Remember, in cases of laceration, simple cold 

 water is better than Goulard's, or evaporative lotions. 



In cases where the injury reaches the eyeball itself, and 

 there is active inflammation, the activity of treatment must 

 correspond. Bleed from the head ; give a strong purgative 

 and cooling drench; apply anodyne fomentation (boiled 

 poppy heads) to the eye with soft cloths or sponge. When 

 the physic has operated, separate the eyelids and examine 

 the extent of the injury. If the iris should protrude, touch 

 it with lunar caustic, or butter of antimony, to destroy the 

 projecting portion, which causes agonising pain, and to 

 deaden the morbid sensibility of the parts. Apply the 

 caustic till the protrusion is got level with the cornea, and 



