196 
WORM IN THE EYE OF THE HORSE. 
ance in an eye from which one had been extracted some months 
before. The worm is always found in the anterior chamber of 
the eye, swimming in the aqueous humour/’ 
For the sake of precision on those points, concerning which I 
was most anxious to obtain information, I proposed some que¬ 
ries : the following are Mr. Gibb’s answers. 
1st. Have you often had occasion to see horses affected with 
the disease produced by the worm in the eye ? 
I have often had occasion to see the disease, and had op¬ 
portunities of witnessing more cases of it than any other person 
in India, . I imagine, from my situation at the stud for the last 
twenty-two years. While at Poosah, where I was stationed 
sixteen years, I think I must have seen, on an average, nearly 
twenty cases annuall 3 ^” 
2nd. What has been the usual result of the disease, if no 
operation were performed ? 
The usual result has been complete opacity of the trans¬ 
parent cornea, and subsequent loss of sight of the eye. In 
some instances, where the worm was weakly, and its motions 
sluggish and feeble, opacity of the cornea did not take place. 
The worm soon died, was absorbed, and the eye remained clear. 
In such cases I made it a practice never to operate.” 
2rd. Has weakness of loins, or other symptom of cachexia, 
often attended this disease ? 
Weakness of the loins occasionally occurred, in horses that 
had been affected with the worm in the eye; but by no means 
invariably so, or to such a degree as to induce me to conclude 
that the former was occasioned by the latter, or inseparably con¬ 
nected with it. I have never observed any other symptoms of 
cachexia attending the disease.” 
Ath. Have you ever found worms similar to those that occa¬ 
sionally exist in the eye, in the intestines of the horse, or in 
the cellular tissue of any part of the body, or in the canal of 
the spine, in contact with the spinal marrow ? 
I have almost invariably found, in the stomach and in¬ 
testines of the horse, worms exactly similar to those that are 
found in the eye, and in very great numbers, particularly in the 
cold months. I have found them also in tumors of the sto¬ 
mach, imbedded in a thick mucus; but never in other parts of 
the body, never in the cellular membralie of any part, or in the 
canal of the spine: though I have often dissected, with Mr. 
Moorcroft, horses that have been Kurnmree, or weak in the 
loins, with the view" of ascertainino; the cause of the disease. 
Our researches were naturally directed to the spine, and more 
particularly to that portion within the lumbar vertebrae.” 
I 
