THE ORGANS OP SPECIAL SENSE. 219 



nerves, muscles, &o. Haemorrhage may be restrained by 

 an antiseptic astringent plug frequently replaced ; granu- 

 lation also is thus promoted. The use of artificial eyes 

 in dog practice might be tried, for beauty of the patient 

 is often an important consideration, and well-made glass 

 eyes do not often cause irritation. Youatt relates a 

 very interesting case of congenital blindness from persist- 

 ence of the membrana pupillaris in a female pointer eight 

 weeks old. The inner edge of the iris was fringed with 

 a greyish-white fibrous matter which rendered the pupil 

 curiously four-cornered and very small. Six months 

 afterwards the pupil was much enlarged and of proper 

 shape, but in the background of the eye was a faint 

 yellow-green light. She then showed some sensibility to 

 light and some perception of external objects. This may 

 have been Inflammation op the Ieis and Choroid, a disease 

 resulting in lymph deposit, generally caused by injury. 

 We have no evidence of the occurrence of specific or gouty, 

 ophthalmia in the dog. 



THE EAR. — The conchial cartilage varies much in shape 

 and length in different breeds of dogs, and we, to an 

 extent, find that there is a difference between long-eared 

 and short-eared dogs in their liability to certain diseases 

 of this pai't and the skin which invests it. These diseases 

 are much less severe in the present day than formerly, 

 although we still find both external and internal canker 

 difficult to cure. The dog suffers from ear-ache, sometimes 

 without appreciable disease, but often as a result of otitis, 

 inflammation of the middle and internal ear, in other cases 

 apparently neuralgic. The general indications of disease 

 or irritation of the ear in the dog are a tendency to carry 

 the head to one side, to scratch the ear or rub it against 

 the ground, to shake the head and to flap the ear violently. 

 When such symptoms are present and the patient suffers 

 from fever, pain, and heat round the ear, and no external 

 indications of disease are present, otitis may be diagnosed 

 and general and local antiphlogistic treatment resorted to. 

 Sometimes symptoms like those of epilepsy are induced by 

 this disorder ; such violent cases were seen more frequently 



