192 
ON CATARACT IN 
The forms and duration of ophthalmia, the frequency of its 
attacks, and the degree of disorganization produced by each at¬ 
tack, are extremely uncertain and dissimilar, which the follow¬ 
ing cases, perhaps, will assist in illustrating :— 
CASE I. 
A brown mare was worked in a coach at four years old till she 
was seven, when she had a violent attack of ophthalmia; and 
though depletion was had recourse to, and the inflammation was 
subdued in about ten days, a cataract was left in both eyes, and 
total blindness in one: a second attack some time afterwards 
entirely destroyed vision. 
CASE II. 
A bay mare was bought at six years old, and soon afterwards 
she became affected with ophthalmia, to which she, no doubt, 
had before been subject. Periodical attacks occurred every four 
or six weeks; and whilst she was affected with it, she would 
frequently (on any one approaching her head) hang back, and 
break her halter, and sometimes fall over on her back. In the 
course of two years, the interval between the attacks became 
longer, and continued to increase in duration ; and when she 
died last year (of an affection of the brain), which was eight 
years after I first knew her, though lame and worn out, she was 
not totally blind. 
The two next cases will, in some measure, corroborate Mr. 
Cartwright’s remarks. 
CASE III. 
A four-years old horse was bought two years and a half since, 
when I discovered small cataracts in each eye. I rode him, and 
though he did not shy, he would blunder against a rail or a 
gate. He was put to fast work in a mail, where he still conti¬ 
nues, and he has had no inflammation in his eyes since; and 
when I saw him last, a few months ago, the cataracts were 
much the same. 
CASE IV. 
Some time since I was requested to examine a horse that was 
lame, when I perceived a cataract in one eye. The owner, a 
surgeon, said he had had no inflammatory attack during the 
three months he had been in his possession; and the previous 
possessor denied any thing being the matter with his eyes before. 
I have met with several instances of blind horses being sub¬ 
ject to attacks of inflammation of the eyes, during which time 
