DISEASES Of TSfi EYE. 281 



and loss of the hair. If improvement follows, this discharge becomes 

 more tenacious, and tends to cause adhesion to the edges of the upper 

 and lower lids and to mat together the eyelashes in bundles. This 

 gradually decreases to the natural amount, and the redness and con- 

 gested appearance of the eye disappears, but swelling, thickening, 

 and stiffness of the lids may continue for a time. There may be 

 more or less fever according to the violence of the inflammation, but 

 so long as there is no serioiis disease of the interior of the eye or of 

 other vital organ, it is usually moderate. 



The local treatment consists in astringent, soothing lotions (sugar 

 cf lead 30 grains, laudanum 2 teaspoonf uls, rain water — ^boiled and 

 cooled — 1 pint) , applied with a soft cloth kept wet with the lotion, 

 and hung over the eye by tying it to the headstall of the bridle on the 

 two sides. If the mucous membrane lining of the lids is the seat of 

 little red granular elevations, a drop of solution of 2 grains of nitrate 

 of silver in an ounce of distilled water shoiild be applied with the soft 

 end of a clean feather to the inside of the lid twice a day. The 

 patient should be removed from all such conditions (pasture, faulty 

 feed, exposure, etc.) as may have caused or aggravated the disease, 

 and from dust and irritant fumes and gases. He should be fed from 

 a manger high enough to favor the return of blood from the head, 

 and should be kept from work, especially in a tight collar which 

 would prevent the descent of blood by the jugular veins. The diet 

 should be laxative and nonstimulating (grass, bran mashes, carrots, 

 turnips, beets, potatoes, or steamed hay), and any costiveness should 

 be corrected by a mild dose of raw linseed oil (1 to 1| pints). In 

 cold weather warm blanketing may be needful, and even loose flannel 

 bandages to the limbs, but heat should never be sought at the expense 

 of pure air. 



(2) In inflammations due to local irritants of a noninfective kind 

 a careful examination will usually reveal their presence, and the first, 

 step must be their removal with a pair of blunt forceps or the point 

 of a lead pencil. Subsequent treatment will be in the main the local 

 treatment advised above. • 



(3) In case of infective inflammation there will often be found a 

 prick or tear by which the septic matter has entered, and in such case 

 the inflammation will for a time be concentrated at that point. A 

 round or conical swelling around an insect bite is especially character- 

 istic. A snake bite is marked by the double prick made by the two 

 teeth and by the violent and rapidly spreading inflammation. Ery- 

 sipelas is attended with much swelling, extending beyond the lids 

 and causing the mucous membrane to protrude beyond the edge of 

 the eyelid (chemosis). This is characterized by a bright, uniform, 

 rosy red, disappearing on pressure, or later by a dark, livid hue, but 

 with less branching redness than in noriinfectihg inflammation and 



