RESEARCHES INTO THE CAUSES OF BLINDNESS. 461 
compared with what it is in those bred in other parts of the district. 
Not only is the soil and grass better in quality, but the fogs are not 
so thick, nor have they that greyish hue and peculiar smell which 
characterise the pernicious vapours we have described. The dew, 
when condensed on a plate and tested with sulphuric acid, no 
longer betrays the appearances before spoken of. 
It has been frequently observed, that heavy draught and plough 
horses are far more subject to blindness than gig or saddle horses. 
We, are not aware, however, that any one has attempted to account 
for this peculiarity, although, in our opinion, the different treatment 
to which the two are subjected will satisfactorily account for it. 
In general, saddle horses are moderately worked — their strength 
not over-taxed in any way, and they are seldom roughly used or 
ill-treated; while, in some places, team horses are most brutally 
used, the reins violently jerked hither and thither, and hard blows 
with the butt end of the whip bestowed with an unsparing hand, 
and on most vital parts, and particularly on the head. This alone 
is sufficient to produce injuries that will eventually bring on blind- 
ness. We do not pretend to any great discernment on account of 
having made this discovery ; but we shall be happy if, through 
our means, some little lightUs thrown on an obscure point, and if 
we can prevent the brutality of too many carters. From the suc- 
cess attendant on our mode of treatment we trust that owners and 
breeders of horses will, as soon as they perceive any symptoms of 
purulent ophthalmia, submit the animal to a rational regimen, com- 
mit it to the care of a veterinary surgeon, and diminish that over- 
work which prematurely exhausts its energies, and predisposes it 
to take on disease. 
Relying on the success that has attended our treatment of 
purulent ophthalmia, we trust that our readers will not accuse us 
of presumption for stating that, had it not been for the use of these 
therapeutic means, there would have been many more blind and 
one-eyed horses in the regiment than there now are. 
Here terminates our account of the chief object of our study for 
the last two years in the district of Sarreguemines and the sur- 
rounding neighbourhood. If our remarks tend in the slightest 
degree to the advancement of veterinary science or the assistance 
of our colleagues, we shall consider ourselves amply repaid. 
3 R 
VOL. XVIII. 
