ON CATARACT. 
269 
the case of the trial to which Mr. Cartwright alludes in his 
communication on this subject (in the No. of The V eterina- 
rian for January last) stands reported so far back as August 
1832; yet to that gentleman—one of the stanchest supporters of 
The Veterinarian, and surest advancers of our science— 
and to that gentleman alone, belongs the credit of having caused 
fresh light to be thrown upon a subject which has ever been in¬ 
volved in mystery and darkness. 
The points at issue in the trial, and which are left for our 
present and future consideration, are the two following :—1st, 
Whether it be possible for cataract to form without any previous 
or concomitant signs of inflammation being apparent in the eye? 
And if so, how or in what space of time may, or commonly does, 
the occurrence take place ? 
Professor Coleman, to whom we all naturally and properly 
look for authority when there arises amongst us any subject of 
dispute, has observed in his lectures—“ W e often find cataract 
without any inflammation existing at the time: though on in¬ 
quiry we shall discover that there has been some previous dis¬ 
ease. I do not mean to assert that inflammation necessarily 
precedes it; but it is almost always the case.’ 7 
In respect to what happens in our own .persons. Professor 
Cooper*, in detailing “the causes of the cataract, 77 has remark¬ 
ed as follows :— u Persons who are much exposed to strong fires, 
as blacksmiths, locksmiths, glassmen, and those who are engaged 
in similar employments, seem to be more subject to the cataract 
than others. Persons above the age of forty are reckoned more 
liable to cataracts than younger subjects.— Wenzel. The dis¬ 
ease, however, is by no means infrequent in the latter; even 
children are often seen affected with this kind of blindness, and 
some are born with it. The habitual vision of minute ob¬ 
jects in a dependant position of the head, by which an undue 
proportion of blood is said to be thrown upon the organ, frequent¬ 
ly brings on cataracts. 17 — Med. Chir. Trans, vol. iv. 
In the majority of instances a cataract seems to arise sponta¬ 
neously, without any assignable cause. Sometimes the opacity 
* See the Professors “ Dictionary of Practical Surgery.” 
VOL. VII. 
n n 
