THE 
VETERINARIAN. 
vor,. iv. 
JULY, 1831. 
No. 43. 
(Communication!* antr (Casre. 
Ars vcterinaria post medicinam secnnda cst.—V egetius. 
PATHOLOGICAL FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
By Mr. J. Castley, V. S. 12 th Royal Lancers. 
.4 * 
No. IV. 
“ I shall studiously avoid controversial discussions when they can lead 
to no practical results; and theories unsupported by experience I shall 
altogether reject.”— Balling alt’s Lectures . 
* 
' • . • « ’ V . 
OF THE PERIODICAL OPHTHALMIA OF HORSES. 
I CANNOT help thinking there appears to be something like a 
general feeling of reluctance existing amongst the veterinary 
practitioners of the present day to entering into a free, full, and 
fair discussion of this subject. A subject which, I confess, I 
approach with a mixed sensation of diffidence and humiliation 
of humiliation, from the defective state of our knowledge. If it 
has been said of glanders that that disease is “ the opprobrium 
of our art,” may not this epithet, with equal propriety, be applied 
to the malady in question ? For I believe no man can fairly say 
he has ever yet succeeded in curing a case of the true periodical 
ophthalmia. We can check and palliate the evil; but, let the 
truth be told, the present state of our knowledge does not en¬ 
able us to arrest its progress. It by no means, however, follows, 
because we have not hitherto been fortunate enough to discover 
a satisfactory remedy for this complaint, that it is, therefore, to 
be considered incurable. On the contrary, it only, perhaps, tends 
to shew that we have yet much to learn, and that veterinary 
science is, probably, still in its infancy. In England, indeed, 
where the art has been much stimulated and encouraged, its 
growth has been abundantly luxuriant; but has it not advanced 
rather with a rapid than a lirm step? And may we hope it is 
not destined, even there, to experience a premature decline ? 
I do not pretend to have any thing absolutely new or extraor- 
vol. iv. 3 D 
