527 
OBSEEVATIONS ON SOUNDNESS.^' 
By R. H. Dyer, M.R.C.V.S., Waterford, 
{Continuedfromp, 461.) 
\ 
By closing one eye, it will be found man is capable of 
seeing about two thirds of the objects which he can when both 
eyes are in action. A horse similarly circumstanced, I should 
imagine, labours under an equal disadvantage. It may be 
profitable for us to bear this in mind in order to test its 
accuracy. 
Having a professional visit to pay the other day, at Bally- 
conway, I was requested to examine a four-year-old entire 
colt with regard to his eyes. Finding capsular cataract in 
both, the owner of the animal became particularly interested, 
and inviting me to partake of his hospitality, he put a series 
of questions relative to eye-diseases generally, after which he 
introduced me to his son, who suffers from an attack of 
keratitis, and is consequently unable to distinguish any object, 
which disease has existed for many months. The case is 
replete with interest, inasmuch as we, as veterinarians^ are 
not often consulted upon such cases as the one alluded to. 
It may not be generally known that in Ireland there are 
more blind persons, in proportion to the population, than in 
any other country in the world save one, which I believe is 
Siberia. I have not any statistical accounts prepared in refer¬ 
ence to blindness in the horse, but I believe the same [thing 
exists in the horse as in man, viz., that there are more blind 
horses here than in any other known country. A few years since 
accounts were published as to the number of persons totally 
blind in Ireland; and there were at that time, if my memory 
serves me rightly, about from 7000 to 8000 in a state of dark¬ 
ness. Few persons will be inclined to believe such a startling 
fact. It is not known how many individuals suffer from the 
loss of one eye only. If such information could be obtained, 
it would present a truly melancholy picture indeed. 
Ojohthadmia is so well known that it needs but small mention; 
still, I think, much as we know about it, it frequently passes 
from before us in our examinations as to soundness without 
the slightest remark being made of its presence. If the 
owner of the animal in question was aware of the feelings of 
his trusty steed, he would in all probability consult some 
member of the profession as to the presence or absence of the 
disease, and I haye po hesitation in asserting that the verdict 
