PURULENT CONJUCTIVITIS. 181 
sticky, the eyes quite red and the discharge profuse, treatment should be prompt 
and energetic. Frequent douching of the lids with tepid water will be necessary... 
The diet should be restricted to bland foods; the bowels freely moved by a purge, 
and the patient kept in a room in which the light is dim or entirely excluded. 
But at the same time good ventilation must be afforded. 
If medical advice cannot be immediately obtained, a solution of borax in 
camphor water, ten grains to the ounce, should be dropped into the eye — onto 
the eyeball, the lids being forced apart —every hour while the disease is intense. 
This can be done by the means of a clean teaspoon, although a glass “ dropper ” 
is more convenient. As for the quantity, a few drops will suffice. At night, when 
the douching must be discontinued, the lids should be well lubricated with vaselin. 
If under this treatment some improvement is not noted in the course of three 
days, for the borax and camphor water, a solution of sulphate of zinc—two grains 
to an ounce of water — should be substituted, and dropped into the eyes three 
times a day. 
As stated, this disease is self-limited; therefore the object of treatment is 
rather to keep down the inflammation and make recovery easier, than to attempt 
to effect a speedy cure. 
Blisters are never required, for they are of no use. Poultices of all kinds are 
very dangerous here, and should therefore never be applied in this or other affec- 
tions of the eyes. 
PURULENT CONJUCTIVITIS. 
Fortunately this affection is unmistakable and quite rare. It occurs sud- 
denly, and begins as a catarrh ; the eyelids are red, and usually so greatly swollen 
that they can scarcely be separated. They are soon glued together, and when 
pulled apart, pus flows in considerable quantity. The eyeball is intensely red, 
and its surface membrane, the conjunctiva, swollen to such a degree that it forms 
a ring around the cornea, aptly termed “the window of the eye.” The cornea 
becomes dull in the centre, and in some cases exhibits ulcers or tendencies to 
ulceration. This opacity or cloudiness of the cornea gradually increases, becomes 
darker, and eventually takes on a yellowish-gray coloration. There is marked 
intolerance of light, and constant winking and blinking. 
True conjunctivitis of this nature is very generally the result of the introduc- 
tion into the eye of specific infectious substances, purulent secretions, or virulent 
particles floating in the air; yet it may occur in the course of chronic catarrhal 
conjunctivitis, without poisoning from other sources. 
Medical advice should always be sought at once for this affection, because 
there is liability of permanent injury; but if it cannot be obtained, about all 
that can safely be attempted is to keep the eye as clean as possible by frequent 
