PRELIMINARY REPORT ON OPHTHALMIA 
Histological Appearance of an Acutely Inflamed Conjunctiva 
The areolar tissue beneath the epithelium and the tissue around the meibomian glands is 
infiltrated with numbers of small round cells ; the infiltration is general, but here and there 
the cells are aggregated in small masses ; the masses are distinctly circumscribed, yet do not 
possess any capsule. The epitlielial layer of the conjunctiva lias suffered some loss, especially at 
those places adjacent to the round cell collections. The vessels are dilated and engorged with 
blood. Numerous coarsely granular plasma cells are observed, some of which have been ruptured 
with a discharge of their contents into the surrounding tissues. A few bacilli were detected, but 
only in small numbers. 
During the investigations I was fortunate enough to obtain some poorly nourished kittens, 
suffering from muco-purulent ophthalmia, the eye discharge of which contained a bacillus 
somewhat similar to that present in muco-purulent opiitlialmia. Altliough the leucocytes of the 
discharge contained the bacillus in appreciable numbers, the vast majority were discovered massed 
together around and in close association with epithelial cells. The bacilli occurred mainly in 
pairs, and varied little in form ; the longer bacilli had squarish ends with a very small interval 
between the elements ; shorter forms were oval and had a distinct interval. The tissues of the 
conjunctiva were infiltrated with small round cells which were here and there grouped together 
in small masses ; the vessels were engorged with blood, and many plasma cells were present. 
It may be of some interest in this connection to describe the histological appearances of a 
kitten's cornea, rendered opaque by a severe acute inflammation. 
At the periphery of the cornea there is the normal stratified layer ot epithelium, consisting 
of columnar epithelium on a basement membrane, with cubical and squamous cells above. As the 
opacity is approached the thickness of the epithelium diminishes ; first it is represented by a double 
layer of cells, then a single layer of cubical cells, and finally, when the opacity is reached, the 
epithelium has entirely disappeared. 
Where the epithelium has disappeared the basement membrane cannot be detected, and the 
substantia propria comas for a thickness of 6 or 7 lamina? has undergone a kind of coagulative 
necrosis ; it is represented by an open network of slender fibres enclosing some degenerated remnants. 
In several places the continuity of this network is broken by a further destruction of tissue in the 
shape of a minute ulcer. The edges are fairly smooth, and the floor is only separated from the 
normal substantia by one or two necrosed lamallae. 
At the periphery of the cornea, and for a short distance into its substance, there is a round 
cell infiltration, with deposits of blood-pigment in the dilated blood-vessels and the spaces of the 
corneal substance. 
