192 KENNEL DISEASES. 
while the eye is forming in early embryonic life—to want of proper building 
materials or imperfect use of the same, owing to some defect in the mother, in 
consequence of which the lens is imperfect. And in these cases, as a rule, the 
trouble is rarely detected early unless the examiner has had much experience, 
though attention is usually first drawn to the eyes by the ordinary evidences of 
impairment of sight, or total blindness. In advanced life, however, it scarcely 
long escapes detection, provided the abnormal changes are extensive, for a gray- 
ish white opacity ‘is plainly to be seen back of the pupil. 
Once cataract begins to form it is almost always progressive, and although in 
puppies it may in extremely rare instances disappear spontaneously, such happy 
result is never likely to occur when the trouble manifests itself after maturity. 
Until of late it has been held that no internal or external medication could 
cause an opacity of the lens to disappear, and the only recognized remedy has 
been the surgeon’s knife, but some three or four years ago a case of a man in 
this country was reported in which the lens cleared up under the use of the juice 
of the Cineraria Maritima. Since then several other cures have been recorded, 
one of which occurred in a physician who tried the remedy after failure to 
improve under the care of eminent specialists. And he was led to do this by a 
knowledge of the practice of the natives of India, who have for years been 
accustomed to rely upon this agent in cataract (zaza/a). 
The results, so well authenticated, excited no little interest among physicians 
generally, and many have since been anxious to give it a fair trial. But how to 
obtain the fresh juice, which has been proved to possess curative power, was for 
a long time a disturbing question, and until some one discovered among pot 
plants here in this country a variety of the Cineraria Maritima which is popu- 
larly called the cavtwhee?. And the juice of this is now being tried, but the results 
have not yet been recorded. Enterprising wholesale druggists have also ob- 
tained a supply of the juice from the countries in which the plant is indigenous, 
and it is now on sale. 
If the juice in question has the effect on man which is attributed to it, it 
should certainly have the same on dogs. And those who have cases of cataract 
in their kennels will do well to try this simple and perfectly innocuous agent. 
If the plant cartwheel is not obtainable the imported juice should be tried. 
Two drops of this should be dropped on the pupil three times daily; and the 
treatment be persisted in for several months. 
Surgical interference in congenital cataract is a simple and easy process when 
it consists of needling or rupturing the anterior capsule through the pupil, but is 
necessarily attempted only by experts. It is to be recommended in place of 
tedious treatment, because the early months of a dog’s life are most important 
for his training. 
