INFLAMMATION OF THE EYE AND EAR. 27 



white of the eye, which becomes red and swollen. In this kind, if an ulcer appears, 

 it will often eat through the cornea, and the eye will be lost by a discharge of its 

 contents. Sometime, again, in a weakly young dog, there is a low kind of inflam- 

 mation, with great intolerance of light, and a discharge of watery fluid instead of 

 thick pus. This is strumous ophthalmia, and requires a very different treatment. 

 A third kind of ophthalmia, the rheumatic, is unattended by discharge ; the vessels 

 are deeply gorged, and the pain great. This, however, is a disease peculiar to old 

 dogs, and from that cause may generally be distinguished from the strumous, and 

 from the ordinary ophthalmia, by the absence of discharge. There is also an 

 inflammation, the result of accident, which sometimes destroys the eye rapidly, and 

 requires energetic treatment. The Treatment of ordinary ophthalmia should depend 

 upon its severity, which, if great, will demand bleeding and .strong purgatives ? 

 followed by a grain of calomel and opium two or three times a day. When an 

 ulcer appears, a wash should be used daily, consisting of the nitrate of silver in 

 solution, or the sulphate of zinc, according to the formulas given under Eye-washes. 

 In the strumous kind tonics are necessary, consisting of 1 grain of quinine and 3 of 

 hemlock, in a pill, three times a day. When the rheumatic form shows itself, a 

 brisk purge must first be given, and then the iodide of potassium should be adminis- 

 tered according to the formula at page 12. If this does not succeed, a seton may be 

 inserted in the neck. 



CATARACT consists in an opacity of the crystalline lens, for which nothing 

 can be done ; for although it might be removed by operation, the dog would still 

 be unable to see for want of the glasses, which, in the human subject, supply its 

 place. It may easily be recognised by the clear white pupil, which takes the place 

 of the ordinary dark centre of the organ. 



DROPSY of the eye is only the result of chronic inflammation, and little can be 

 done to alleviate it, as the eye is almost always destroyed before the disease pro- 

 ceeds so far as to cause dropsy. 



AMAUROSIS, or paralysis of the nerve, is generally a sign of disease of the brain, 

 either produced by injury or from overfeeding. The dog is more or less blind 

 without the eye showing any change in form, and even at first being preternaturally 

 bright. But if the dog is watched, he is seen to be blind by his striking his head 

 against objects in his way, and by his timid mode of moving about. If the disease 

 is recent, the dog may possibly be cured by smart purgatives and a seton ; but, in 

 most cases, very little benefit is experienced from these remedies. 



INFLAMMATIONS OF THE EAR. 



DEAFNESS often arises from severe cold, and may then be expected to disappear 

 as the dog recovers, but it is sometimes congenital, and when such is the case, no 

 remedies are of any avail. If it comes on after distemper, it will generally dis- 

 appear, or if it occurs from ordinary cold. Whenever it is obstinately persistent 

 for more than a fortnight, a seton in the neck is the best remedy, kept in for some 

 weeks. 



