54 CATARACT. 
tenderness toward his creatures, or to defy the power which can in an 
instant snatch away his possessions. 
CATARACT. 
Cataract is a white spot within the pupillary opening. The spot may 
be indistinct or conspicuous,—soft, undefined or determined ; it may be 
as small as the point of a needle, or so big 
as to fill the entire space: in short, any in- 
dication of whiteness or opacity upon the 
pupil is regarded as a cataract. 
Cataracts are designated according to the 
parts on which they reside. The lens of the 
eye is contained within a capsule, as an egg 
is within its shell. Any whiteness upon this 
PARTIAL CATARACTS, OR SMALL WAITE capsule is termed a capsular cataract. The 
CE OS en estate seats ea by liquor which surrounds it, as 
the white does the yolk of anegg. Any turbidness in this fluid is termed 
amilky cataract; any speck upon the lens is a lenticular cataract; and 
any little glistening appearance behind the capsule is spoken of as a 
spurious cataract. 
Moreover, there are the osseous, the cartilaginous, and the opaque 
cataracts; but those distinctions rather concern the anatomist than the 
pathologist, as they may be guessed at, yet are not to be distinguished 
with certainty one from another, during life. 
That which more concerns the reader is, to learn the manner, if possi- 
ble, of preventing cataract from disfiguring his horse’s eyes. Then will 
the gentleman be kind enough to hold a sheet of white paper close to his 
nose, so that the eyes may see nothing else, for a single half hour. Let 
us suppose the trial has been made. With many people the head has 
become dizzy and the sight indistinct. In some persons singing noises 
are heard and a sensation of sickness has been created. Let the author 
strive to explain this fact. Travelers, passing over the Alps, wear green 
veils, to prevent the strain or excitement which looking upon a mass 
of white snow occasions the visual organs. Any excitement is preju- 
dicial to the eye. Workers at trades dealing in minute objects, often go 
blind, and the use of the miscroscope has frequently to be discontinued. 
But to look continuously upon a white mass is the most harmful of all 
other causes. 
This fact must be considered as established. And what does the 
horse proprietor have done to his stable? He orders the interior to be 
whitewashed. It looks so clean, he delights to see it; but do the 
horses—does nature equally enjoy to look upon those walls of “ spot- 
