CONTAGIOUS CONJUNCTIVITIS IN CATTLE. 
743 
treatment for it. He did not name it, but I saw a few lines in 
a Western paper that gave it the name I have used here. 
Definition .—The name itself carries its full meaning. It is 
inflammation of the conjunctiva of the eye, and is contagious. 
Causes .—The disease is surely due to some form of infec¬ 
tion, for when it is once introduced into a herd it spreads until 
all or nearly all are affected. 
The danger of infection is not so great; other cattle may 
cross and recross the path of those affected and not contract the 
disease, but of those that belong to the herd very few escape. 
The disease seems also to originate spontaneously, as it ap¬ 
pears in sections where it has never been known to exist and 
without any visible means of its being transmitted from any 
infected district. It is slow in spreading and may take several 
months to complete the rounds of a herd of twenty-five or more. 
Symptoms .—The first symptoms are sensitiveness to the 
light, with a copious flow of tears, followed by the conjunctiva 
becoming thickened, white and opaque. The whole eyeball 
seems to swell until the lids cannot be closed. As the inflam¬ 
mation subsides the opacity of the conjunctiva disappears first 
from the edges, the white spot becoming smaller until it disap¬ 
pears entirely, or when it is reduced to the size of a dime it 
sometimes becomes very vascular and looks like a large red 
wart on the centre of the eye. This in time will also disappear 
and the animal be as good as ever except for the loss of flesh, 
and if it be a milch cow a great reduction in the flow of milk also. 
Treatment .—My first treatment was to bathe the eyes in warm 
water and apply direct to the eyeball a weak solution of boracic 
acid and atropine, which did very little good. 
Following the advice of Dr. Salmon, I next used a solution of 
boracic acid to bathe the eyes and face, and then placed in the 
eyes a small amount of iodoform-vaseline well mixed); this 
gave very marked relief. After that, in place of the iodoform- 
vaseline ointment, I substituted an ointment made of europhen 
and vaseline warmed and mixed), and obtained still better 
results. 
