SUPERVENING ON DIABETES. 
16!3 
D uring the period I have alluded to, i. e. during the stay of 
the army of occupation in France, a very great number of Eng¬ 
lish horses had diseased eyes, and many went blind. Horses of 
all ages, and with all kinds of eyes, were liable to be attacked 
in the way I have mentioned. The question has often been 
asked, Whoever has seen a wall-eyed horse go blind t To this 
I will answer, I have. I remember two horses in particular— 
two officers’ chargers belonging to the regiment—whose eyes were 
of that soil which are said never to go blind, but which became 
affected under exactly similar circumstances. One had the 
brown or hazel-coloured eyes, like that of a sheep ; and the other 
was a wall-eyed horse: they were seven and eight years old. 
These horses had been remarkably subject to diabetes, which 
had been frequently checked with medicine, 8ec.; but on one 
occasion, in consequence, I believe, of much marching and mov¬ 
ing about, the complaint was suffered to continue unheeded for a 
long time together. Ultimately, they both became very weak, 
and exhibited ill-showing symptoms of exhaustion, with loss of 
appetite, accompanied with accelerated pulse and breathing; and, 
in short, great general disturbance of the system. Under these 
circumstances their eyes became suddenly affected, presenting, 
all at once, a general turbid and muddy appearance; and for seve¬ 
ral days together they seemed to be either quite blind, or scarcely 
able to distinguish one object from another. As the other symp¬ 
toms subsided, however, so did this: the eyes became quite 
clear again. But from that time they were ever afterwards 
subject to periodical attacks of inflammation, assuming a regu¬ 
lar character; recurring again and again by paroxysms, and end¬ 
ing in cataract. One of these horses afterwards dying, we found 
his mesenteric glands and liver much diseased. 
I have selected these two cases from amongst a number of 
others of the same nature that I remember: they appeared to me 
to be well marked, and made a strong impression upon me at the 
time. They occurred in subjects having passed seven years old, 
and in that description of eye which is said never to go blind ; 
and which, in fact, I have never seen affected with this com¬ 
plaint under any other circumstances. 
I am much inclined to believe that the periodical ophthalmia 
does also occasionally arise, as a supervening consequence, out 
of other disturbed states of the system, besides the one I have 
stated. But in saying this I must not be understood as favour¬ 
ing the old humoral pathology, of which so much has been said, 
and which still has its strong hold in the stable. I have often 
heard the remark make by old horseman, and persons who have 
lived all their lives in a stable, that, if you dry up running 
