DROPSY OF THE BELLY. 587 



Symptoms. — The eyesight is either partially or completely 

 gone, and when covering the greater part of the lens, it is easily 

 known by its pearly white appearance. .When small, it is somewhat 

 difficult of detection ; ( the eye is smaller than in health, and the 

 pupil becomes greatly contracted when exposed to light. It may 

 be detected by placing the animal in a bright light, and carefully 

 examining the eye; if the eye appears smaller than the other, it 

 indicates something amiss with it. He should then be placed in a 

 darkened stable, and allowed to stand quietly for ten or fifteen 

 minutes before being subjected to an examination. Stand in front 

 of him, and bring a lighted candle close up to the front of his eye, 

 when any alteration in the structure of the 

 lens can be readily detected. 



Treatment of the horse is useless, as when 

 permanently established, it cannot be re- 

 moved.. When the cataract is confined to 

 one eye only, it interferes but little with the 

 horse's usefulness for ordinary work. 



The cornea is .frequently injured from the 

 puncture of a nail, allowing the aqueous 

 humor to escape, and perhaps injuring the FlG 904 ._partial Cataracts, 

 crystalline lens, completely destroying the or Small White Specks wilh- 

 vision. When. the injury is confined to the in the Pupil of the Eye. 

 cornea, the humor may be reproduced. The 



part should be 'diligently bathed, either with hot or cold water, and 

 the fomentations must be applied several times a day ; and the eye 

 supported by means of a wet sponge or cloth, which tends to sub- 

 due the- acute inflammation and allay the pain, and by keeping the 

 eyelids closed, it supports-the lacerated parts. 



After a few days it may be necessary to stimulate the part, 

 when any of the stimulating applications recommended for simple 

 ophthalmia may be used. i 



The membrana nictitans, or haw, sometimes becomes enlarged, 

 the result of an injury, or from being implicated in other diseased 

 conditions of the eye. Eyen in its healthy state, we have , known 

 it to be mistaken (by ignorant persons) for an abnormal structure, 

 and barbarously removed. It is hot an unusual circumstance to 

 hear persons boast of the rapidity with which they can remove this 

 beautiful and most essential appendage to the eye. 



Dropsy of the Belly (Ascites). 

 Ascites consists of a collection of serous fluid in the cavity of 



