WOUNDS OF THE CORNEA. 



Causes : harness, whip, nail, hay, straw, stubble, thistles, spikes, twigs, 

 pine needles, cones, burdocks, stones, gravel, glass, splinters of wood or 

 metal, scratches, stings. Symptoms : closed lids, epiphora, sight of lesion, 

 soon cloudy swelling, opacity. Treatment : antiseptic bandage and lotion, 

 boric acid, sublimate, potassium permanganate, avoid lead or zinc ; atropia, 

 cocaine, with perforation, bandage, eserine, excision. For foreign body, 

 antiseptic cotton, spud or curette. 



Causes. Corneal wounds are common in working animals by 

 reason of contact with harness, canes, whips, etc., and in thfe 

 stable from contact with nails or with the hard ends of hay or 

 straw. At pasture the cornea is injured by the ends of long 

 stubble, the sharp points of thistles, the spikes of various thorny 

 plants, and twigs of bushes and trees. The last named factors 

 are especially operative in hunters and horses worked in forests. 

 Punctures with pine needles and cones, and with burdocks, are 

 other common causes. Stones, gravel, pieces of glass, and 

 splinters of wood or metal, produce traumas of the cornea, and, 

 in cats and dogs, scratches and even perforations with the claws 

 are common. In this connection the stings of insects are not to 

 be forgotten. 



Symptoms. There is always a prompt and complete closure of 

 the eyelids and a profuse secretion of tears. Then on parting 

 the eyelids with finger and thumb, the lesion of the cornea, its 

 nature and extent should be recognizable. In case of a small, 

 punctured wound, however, as with a smooth thorn or other 

 conical body, the normal elasticity of the corneal tissue may lead 

 to such a perfect coaptation of the divided edges that the lesion 

 maly escape even a close scrutiny. If the case is seen early, be- 

 fore time has been allowed for cloudy swelling and opacity the 

 wound is all the more likely to escape observation. In incised, 

 scratched and torn wounds, on the other hand, the seat and nature 

 of the lesion are made out with the greatest ease. 



Treatment of a slight wound which is at once recent and free 



from infection, is by a simple antiseptic bandage and lotion. 



Boric acid (i : loo), sublimate solution (i : 5000) or potassium 



permanganate solution (i : 100) may be used. I^ead and even 



379 



