SUPPURATIVE KERATITIS. 
365 
ject up for himself if he has time, and as a consequence the 
eye, its minute anatomy and in fact, often its comparatively 
common diseases, remain a mystery to a very large number of 
veterinarians. Veterinary literature is not very rich in works 
on ophthalmology, so the only resource left us is works on 
human ophthalmology and their application to our patients. 
We shall briefly define suppurative keratitis to be an ab¬ 
scess or breaking down of the cornea or an abscess of the an¬ 
terior chambers of the eye (this latter is sometimes known as 
hypopyon keratitis) and ulcer of the cornea, and may be pro¬ 
duced with or apparently without inflammation. 
The causes are a result or complication of lesions in¬ 
flammatory of adjoining tissues, innutrition of cornea, but 
mostly from trauma, whip lashes, clubs, stones, pushing the 
finger into the eye, etc.; while in the human those of a scrofu¬ 
lous nature are particularly subject to it. 
There are two varieties of this disease, the most common 
being the inflammatory, which is characterized by the exist, 
ence of inflammatory symptoms ; and the non-inflammatory or 
indolent, in which the substance of the cornea has a tendency 
to break down and slough without acute symptoms. Either 
variety may be circumscribed or diffuse. 
In the inflammatory variety the symptoms are intense pho¬ 
tophobia and profuse lachrymation, while the non-inflamma¬ 
tory type may be entirely free from these symptoms. 
The diffuse yellowish cast appearing during inflammation 
of the cornea is the proof of the formation and infiltration of 
pus. If the breaking down of the corneal tissues does not con¬ 
centrate itself at any circumscribed spot, there is a general 
weakening of the whole substance, until intraocular pres.sure 
produces a staphylomatous bulging forward in addition to the 
already existing opacity. 
When a point or patch of suppuration is differentiated, we 
have an interstitial abscess which may break into an ulcer 
superficially or may empty itself backward, or possibly even 
both ways, forming thus a fistulous opening. 
In abscesses of the chambers, the purulent matter is mixed 
with the aqueous humor, which it renders turbid and is de- 
