aanaey f 
452 
they produce their effect, or to be even conjec- 
turally counteracted by any other means than the 
general good treatment of the animals. Two 
common but quite incurable kinds of blindness 
are noticed in the articles Amaurosis and Moon- 
Burnpnuss ; and a third kind is occasioned by oph- 
thalmic inflammation. The blindness of a horse, 
when induced, may be known by the uncertain, 
unequal, and hesitating manner of his gait, by 
his occasionally lifting the foot as if to step over 
an obstacle when no obstacle exists, by his pricking 
up his ears and moving them in a peculiarly list- 
ful manner when any person enters the stable, 
by his hanging back timidly and hesitatingly in 
his halter, and especially by the dilatation or 
contraction of the pupil of the eye under sud- 
den transitions from light to darkness, or from 
darkness to light. See the article Eyz, But 
when a blind horse is mounted by an expert 
horseman, he may show none of the symptoms 
in hesitation of gait, but, under the action of the 
spurs, and from adroit management, may move 
with perfect resolution and freedom. A horse 
blind in but one eye may, according to cir- 
cumstances, either be very little or very much 
deteriorated. “The loss of one eye,” says Mr. 
Percivall, “does not enfeeble sight; because the 
other acquires greater energy, though it much 
contracts the field of vision. It is said to render 
the conception erring; and the case. of misjudg- 
ment of distances is the one commonly brought 
forward to show this. All I can say on this point 
is, that the best hunter I ever possessed, a horse 
gifted with extraordinary powers for leaping, was 
a one-eyed horse; and this animal carried me 
through a hunting season, without, to my recol- 
lection, making one single blunder in leaping.” 
But, says Mr. Youatt, “although a one-eyed horse 
may not be absolutely condemned for the common 
business of the carriage or the road, he is gene- 
rally deteriorated as a hunter, for he cannot 
measure his distances, and will run into his leaps. 
Many a sportsman, puzzled and angry at the 
sudden blundering of his horse, or injured by one 
or more stunning falls, has found a very natural 
although unexpected explanation of it in the 
blindness of one eye, and that perhaps produced 
through his own fault, by over-riding his willing 
and excellent servant, and causing a determina- 
tion of blood to the eye, which proved fatal to 
the delicate texture of the retina. Even for the 
carriage or the road, he is considerably deterio- 
rated; for his field of observation must be mate- 
rially lessened.” 
Blindness is much more frequent, but far less 
inveterate, among sheep than among horses. If 
almost any flock of sheep be carefully examined, 
the eyes of one half of them will either show 
symptoms of partial or total blindness, or present 
indications of quite recent recovery from blinding 
disease. 'The most common causes are prolonged 
fatigue, hard driving, chasing about by dogs, 
| burying beneath the snow, warm days followed 
BLINDNKSS. 
by frosty nights in winter, and, as some think, 
the blowing of the pollen of flowers into the eyes, 
and sometimes either infection or some undefined 
description of epidemic influence. In some kinds 
of blindness, the whole surface of the eyeballs has 
a light blue colour, resembling the colour of deep 
salt. water when seen perpendicularly in clear 
sunshine; but in the more common kinds, a 
white film gradually spreads over it till the whole 
surface assumes a pearly whiteness. All the 
kinds, however, appear to be preceded or accom- 
panied by inflammation; and when properly 
treated, or even sometimes when they are merely 
let alone, they, with few exceptions, gradually 
and speedily disappear. The principal remedy, 
in all bad cases, is to bleed the vein under the 
inner angle of the eye, on the side of the nose. 
The operator either takes the sheep between his 
knees, placing its rump against a wall, or lays it 
on its back, to be held in that posture by assist- 
ants ; he next, with his left hand, presses the vein 
about two inches from the angle of the jaw, and 
opposite the third grinder; and, immediately 
upon the vein becoming sufficiently full, he punc- 
tures it at a spot about an inch from the eye. 
All stimulating applications, such as a solution 
of white vitriol and other kinds of common “ eye- 
water,” ought to be carefully avoided; for they 
will only increase the inflammation, and augment 
the risk of permanent blindness. Almost the only 
wash which can be of service is either a drop or 
two of vinous tincture of opium introduced to 
the eye, or a lotion consisting of a teaspoonful of 
common tincture of opium and half a pint of 
water freely applied to the exterior. Incurably 
blind sheep incur some risk of drowning in ponds 
or of other fatal accidents, and, on that account, 
may at once be sent to the butcher; yet, after a 
few days of awkwardness and confusion, they are 
almost certain to become perfectly accustomed 
to the paths of the pastures, and to be taken un- 
der the voluntary and constant guidance of some 
other sheep of the flock. 
Blindness not unfrequently attacks poultry, 
and may, in general, be easily cured. It is gen- 
erally a consequence or an accompaniment of 
roup, and disappears when that disease is cured. 
It is sometimes the result of pure inflammation 
of the eye, and may consist in either cloudiness, 
ulceration or enlargement of that organ, and may 
be cured by a few fomentations with warm water, 
each followed by the introduction of a few drops 
of very diluted laudanum between the eyelids. 
It is sometimes also the effect or symptom of 
some other disease, and consists in the closing up 
of the eye with mucous matter ; and in this case, 
it may be removed by such simple means as the 
cleaning of the coup, and a slight protection in 
any manner from cold winds and chilly air.— 
Transactions of the Highland Society.—Percivall 
on the Veterinary Art—Youatt on the Horse.— 
Olater’s Cattle Doctor—G‘ibson on the Diseases of 
Horses. 
