THE SENSORIAL FUNCTION. 125 



carters and grooms. When the groom is anxious that his horse should be as trim 

 and neat all over as art can make him, the very eye-lashes are generally sacrificed. 

 What has the poor animal suffered, when, travelling in the noon of day, the 

 full blaze of the sun has fallen upon his eyes ; and how many accidents have 

 probably happened from his being dazzled by the light, which have been attri- 

 buted to other causes ! 



If the horse has no eyebrow, there are several hairs or bristles scattered on 

 the upper eyelid, and there is a projecting fold of the lid which discharges 

 nearly the same office. It is more conspicuous in old horses than in young ones. 

 Some horsemen do not like to see it, and associate the idea of it with weakness 

 or disease of the eye. This is perfectly erroneous. It is a provision of nature to 

 accomplish a certain purpose, and has nothing to do either with health or disease. 



On the lower lid is a useful provision to warn the horse of the near approach 

 of any object that might incommode or injure Mm, in the form of long project- 

 ing hairs or bristles, which are plenteously embued with nervous influence, so 

 that the slightest touch should put the animal on his guard. We would request 

 our readers to touch very slightly the extremity of one of these hairs. They 

 will be surprised to observe the sudden convulsive twitching of the lid, rendering 

 the attack of the insect absolutely impossible. The grooms, however, who cut 

 away the eye-lashes, do not spare these useful feelers. 



The eye is exposed to the action of the atmospheric air, and the process of 

 evaporation, destructive of its transparency, is continually going on. The eye 

 of the horse, or the visible part of the eye, is, likewise, more prominent and 

 larger than in the human being, and the animal is often subject to extreme 

 annoyance from dust and insects, while he has no hands or other guard to defend 

 himself from the torture which they occasion. What is the provision of 

 nature against this ? Under, and a little within, the outer corner of the upper 

 lid, is an irregular body, the lacrymal gland, comparatively larger than in the 

 human being, secreting an aqueous fluid, which, slowly issuing from the 

 gland, or occasionally pressed out of it the act of winking, flows over the eye, 

 supplies it with moisture, and cleanses it from all impurities. Human ingenuity 

 could not have selected a situation from which the fluid could be conveyed over 

 the eye with more advantage for this purpose. 



When this fluid is secreted in an undue quantity, and flows over the eye, it 

 is called tears. An increased flow of tears is produced by anything that irritates 

 the eye, and, therefore, a constant accompaniment and symptom of inflammation. 

 A horse with any degree of weeping should be regarded with much suspicion. 

 In the human being an unusual secretion of tears is often caused by bodily 

 pain, and emotions of the mind ; and so it is occasionally in the horse. We 

 have seen it repeatedly under acute pain or brutal usage. John Lawrence, 

 speaking of the cruelty exercised by some dealers in what they call " firing" a 

 horse before he is led out for sale, in order to rouse every spark of mettle, says, 

 " more than fifty years have passed away, and I have before my eyes a poor 

 mare stone blind, exquisitely shaped, and showing all the marks of high blood, 

 whom I saw unmercifully cut with the whip a quarter of an hour before the 

 sale, to bring her to the use of her stiffened limbs, while the tears were trickling 

 down her cheeks." 



Having passed over the eye, the fluid is conveyed by the little canal to which 

 we have alluded, formed by the sloping of the under lid, towards the corner of 

 the eye ; and there are two little orifices that conduct it to a small reser- 

 voir within, and at the upper part of the lacrymal bone, (fig, i, p. 110). A little 

 protuberance of a black or pied colour, called the caruncle, placed in the very 

 corner of the eye, and to be seen without opening the lids, is situated between 

 these orifices, and guides the fluid into them. From this reservoir the tears are 



