SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA. 
paper written by M. Marrimpvey for the Royal Agricultural So- 
cietv ot Prance, bearing more particularly on the hereditary nature 
o the ophthalmia: the present paragraphs are taken from a cotem¬ 
porary paper, presented to the same Society by M. Dard, farmer 
and^ veterinary surgeon at Sennecy-le-Grand. 
x artuiages and meadows, in plains bordering upon rivers or 
streams liable to overflows, and which are not laid upon such a de¬ 
scent that the water or rain can run readily off them, enoender, 
without a doubt, this dangerous malady; whilst, in countries 
where the pastures are high and dry, flhe disorder is hardly 
known. The causes, therefore, of this ophthalmia are local,—it is 
enzootic . 
In addition to humidity (which may reign either in the soil or 
the atmosphere ), there is one other state of pasture which tends to 
its production, and that is, clover lays. Experience has shown 
us that this plant, fed upon green , induces ophthalmia; althouoh, 
eff^-t C ne< ^ an ^ mac ^ e i nto hay, it appears to have no such 
M. Daid is not apprised to what extent this disorder is here¬ 
ditary; but he thinks that close, ill-ventilated, insalubrious 
stables, have but little to do with its origin ; in proof of which 
lie instances the few occurrences there are of the kind amono- the 
post and diligence horses, who inhabit stables of the very worst 
description. J 
Considering the uselessness, in a general way, of every known 
medicinal and surgical agent, as remedies, M. Dard conceives 
that veterinarians would be better employed in dissuading farmers 
to breed from such subjects; and in ascertaining whether horses 
bied and reared in marshy districts were exempt from their 
baneful influence, or less liable thereto than new comers. 
rsothing is offered by way of remedy. M. Dard thinks that 
101 ses prove as frequently blind with treatment as without it. 
Heceuil de Med. Vet., May 1829. 
