20 
Mr. Home's Lecture 
have shewn in a former lecture, is a continuation of the tendons 
of the four straight muscles ; but as both these laminae have 
the same properties as the other parts of the cornea, and are 
not to be distinguished from them, they must be considered in 
every respect as a part of it. 
The tunica conjunctiva and tendons, a continuation of which 
forms these anterior laminae of the cornea, are allowed to be liv- 
ing parts, and the portions that make part of the cornea are not 
to be distinguished by their structure from the rest ; we must 
therefore suppose them to be also composed of living parts. 
When the cornea is wounded it unites, like other living parts, 
by the first intention. If the wound is made by a clean cutting 
instrument the cicatrix is small ; but if by a blunt instrument 
it is larger, extending further into the neighbouring parts of 
the cornea, and a greater quantity of the coagulating lymph of 
the blood being required to procure the union. 
Although the cornea, when divided in the operation for ex- 
tracting the crystalline lens, commonly unites by the first 
intention, this union is in some cases attended with inflamma- 
tion, which produces an opacity of the cornea ; in other cases 
the inflammation exceeds the limits of adhesion, and the whole 
internal cavity of the eye proceeds to a state of suppuration. 
These stages of inflammation are only met with in parts pos- 
sessed of life. 
It is true, that an injury may be committed to the cornea, 
such as a small piece of metal sticking in it, which from the in- 
dolent nature of its substance, shall remain there for months 
without producing inflammation ; but an irritation of a less 
violent kind upon the edge of the cornea, by which the tunica 
conjunctiva is also affected, will produce inflammation upon 
