252 DISEASES OP THE HOKSE. 



clouded over with a whitish blue opacity, and this will remain until 

 the compression is interrupted. The interior of the eye contains 

 three transparent media for the refraction of the rays of light on 

 their way from the cornea to the visual nerve. Of these media the 

 anterior one (aqueous humor) is liquid, the posterior (vitreous 

 humor) is semisolid, and the intermediate one (crystalline lens) is 

 solid. The space occupied by the aqueous humor corresponds nearly 

 to the portion of the eye covered by the transparent cornea. It is, 

 however, divided into two chambers, anterior and posterior, by the 

 iris, a contractile curtain with, a hole in the center (the pupil), and 

 which may be looked on as in some sense a projection inward of the 

 vascular and pigmentary coat from its anterior margin at the point 

 where the sclerotic or opaque outer coat becomes continuous with the 

 cornea or transparent one. This iris, or curtain, besides its abun- 

 dance of blood vessels and pigment, possesses two sets of muscular 

 fibers, one set radiating from the margin of the pupil to the outer 

 border of the curtain at its attachment to the sclerotic and choroid, 

 and the other encircling the pupil in the manner of a ring. The 

 action of the two sets is necessarily antagonistic, the radiating fiber.'! 

 dilating the pupil and exposing the interior of the eye to view, 

 while the circular fibers contract this opening and shut out the rays 

 of light. The form of the pupil in the horse is ovoid, with its longest 

 diameter from side to side, and its upper border is fringed by several 

 minute black bodies (corpora nigra) projecting forward and serving 

 to some extent the purpose of eyebrows in arresting and absorbing 

 the excess of rays of light which fall upon the eye from above. These 

 pigmentary projections in front of the upper border of the pupil are 

 often mistaken for the products of disease or injury, in place of the 

 normal and beneficent protectors of the nerve of sight which they are. 

 They may, like all other parts, become the seat of disease, but so long 

 as they and the iris retain their tlear, dark aspect, without any tints 

 of brown or yellow, they may be held to be healthy. 



The vitreous or semisolid refracting medium occupies the posterior 

 part of the eye — ^the part corresponding to the sclerotic, choroid, and 

 retina — and has a consistency corresponding to that of the white of 

 an egg, and a power of refraction of the light rays correspondingly 

 greater than the aqueous humor. 



The third or solid refracting medium is a biconvex lens, with its 

 convexity greatest on its posterior surface, which is lodged in a depres- 

 sion in the vitreous humor, while its anterior surface corresponds 

 to the opening of the pupil. It is inclosed in a membranous covering 

 (capsule) and is maintained in position by a membrane (suspensory 

 ligament) which extends from the margin of the lens outward to the 

 sclerotic at the point of junction of the choroid and iris. This liga- 

 ment is, in its turn, furnished with radiating muscular fibers, which 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



