LIVERPOOL VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION. 
797 
efficient instrment, familiarity with its use would quickly dispel the 
ridicule with which it, in common with many other inventions, was 
burdened at the onset. 
Mr. Morgan said he had seen an ophthalmoscope now so gene¬ 
rally employed by human oculists, and thought such an instrument 
could be of no practical value to a veterinary surgeon, on account 
of the difficulty there would be in getting a horse to maintain so 
exact a position as would be required for the use of an instrument 
having such a complexity of reflectors. The one spoken of by the 
President must be an improved modification of that which he had 
seen. 
Mr. thought that for all practical purposes the examination 
of a horse’s eyes in a darkened stable, by the aid of a candle, was 
sufficient. He should not hesitate to give a certificate if the result 
of such an inspection was satisfactory. 
The Secretary had, during the past two years, seen several cases 
of specific ophthalmia, which rapidly terminated in cataract; these 
all occurred to horses transferred to newly built stables. He con¬ 
sidered the emanations arising from damp walls was the cause. 
Mr. Heyes thought plethora a chief cause of ophthalmia; in his 
experience the greatest number of cases occurred in fat horses, from 
three to six years old ; and he had noticed, as a curious fact, that, 
in almost every instance, the colour of the affected animal was 
black. 
Mr. Whittle had seen many cases in boat-horses, which certainly 
were not usually either young or kept in high condition. He did 
not think black horses were more frequently attacked than those of 
any other colour. 
The last remark was corroborated by the essayist and secretary. 
The President said he could not subscribe to the opinion that 
damp arising from the walls of newly built stables was instrumental 
in causing specific ophthalmia, although, in his practice, diseases of 
the lungs and pleura had resulted from such a cause. He regretted 
that the essayist had not treated at length upon cataract as a sequel 
to ophthalmia. In his opinion a cataract once formed always 
remained. 
A discussion then arose upon the causes of shying ; some members 
were of opinion that the existence of cataract was a principal cause, 
others considered shying was more frequently due to a greater or 
less than normal convexity of the lenses, producing short- or long¬ 
sightedness. 
Diversity of opinion was also expressed upon the benefit, or 
reverse, that resulted from the use of winkers for shying horses. 
The Secretary read a case communicated by Mr. Cartwright. The 
subject, a foal, four months old, quite blind, no existing inflamma¬ 
tion ; the hides fully dilated; the situation of lenses and posterior 
chambers having a perfectly white appearance. No cause could be 
assigned for it. The animal was more than thirty miles from Mr. 
Cartwright’s residence, and he did not know the termination of 
the case. 
