The attacks vary greatly in severity in different cases

The attacks vary greatly in severity in different cases

The attacks vary greatly in severity in different cases

The attacks vary greatly in severity in different cases, but the recurrence is characteristic, and all alike lead to cataract and intraocular effusion, with pressure on the retina and abolition of sight.

Prevention. The prevention of this disease is the great object to be aimed at, and this demands the most careful breeding, feeding, housing, and general management, as indicated under "Causes." Much can also be done by migration to a high, dry location, but for this and malarious affections the improvement of the land by drainage and good cultivation should be the final aim.

The eye seems smaller than the other

The eye seems smaller than the other

The eye seems smaller than the other

In the intervals between the attacks some remaining symptoms betray the condition, and they become more marked after each successive access of disease. Even after the first attack there is a bluish ring around the margin of the transparent cornea. The eye seems smaller than the other, at first because it is retracted in its socket, and often after several attacks because of actual shrinkage (atrophy). The upper eyelid, in place of presenting a uniform, continuous arch, has, about one-third from its inner angle, an abrupt bend, caused by the contraction of the levator muscle. The front of the iris has exchanged some of its dark, clear brilliancy for a lusterless yellow, and the depth of the eye presents more or less of the greenish-yellow shade. The pupil remains a little contracted, except in advanced and aggravated cases, when, with opaque lens, it is widely dilated. If, as is common, one eye only has suffered, the contrast in these respects with the sound eye is all the more characteristic. Another feature is the erect, attentive carriage of the ear, to compensate to some extent for the waning vision.

The characteristic of the disease is

The characteristic of the disease is

The characteristic of the disease is

The characteristic of the disease is, however, its recurrence again and again in the same eye until blindness results. The attacks may follow one another after intervals of a month, more or less, but they show no relation to any particular phase of the moon, as might be inferred from the familiar name, but are determined rather by the weather, the health, the feed, or by some periodicity of the system. From five to seven attacks usually result in blindness, and then the second eye is liable to be attacked until it also is ruined.

The symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack

The symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack

The symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack

Symptoms. The symptoms vary according to the severity of the attack. In some cases there is marked fever, and in some slighter cases it may be almost altogether wanting, but there is always a lack of vigor and energy, bespeaking general disorder. The local symptoms are in the main those of internal ophthalmia, in many cases with an increased hardness of the eyeball from effusion into its cavity. The contracted pupil does not expand much in darkness, nor even under the action of belladonna. Opacity advances from the margin, over a part or whole of the cornea, but so long as it is transparent there may be seen the turbid, aqueous humor with or without flocculi, the dingy iris robbed of its clear, black aspect, the slightly clouded lens, and a greenish-yellow reflection from the depth of the eye. From the fifth to the seventh day the flocculi precipitate in the lower part of the chamber, exposing more clearly the iris and lens, and absorption commences, so that the eye may be cleared up in ten or fifteen days.

Other contributing causes deserve passing mention

Other contributing causes deserve passing mention

Other contributing causes deserve passing mention

Other contributing causes deserve passing mention. Unwholesome feed and a faulty method of feeding undoubtedly predisposes to the disease, and in the same district the carefully fed will escape in far larger proportion than the badly fed; it is so also with every other condition which undermines the general health. The presence of worms in the intestines, overwork, and debilitating diseases and causes of every kind weaken the vitality and lay the system more open to attack. Thierry long ago showed that the improvement of close, low, dark, damp stables, where the disease had previously prevailed, practically banished the affection. Whatever contributes to strength and vigor is protective; whatever contributes to weakness and poor health is provocative of the disease in the predisposed subject.

But refuse service to any mare which has suffered with her eyes

But refuse service to any mare which has suffered with her eyes

But refuse service to any mare which has suffered with her eyes

Yet the hereditary taint is so strong and pernicious that intelligent horsemen everywhere refuse to breed from either horse or mare that has once suffered from recurrent ophthalmia, and the French Government studs not only reject all unsound stallions, but refuse service to any mare which has suffered with her eyes. It is this avoidance of the hereditary predisposition more than anything else that has reduced the formerly wide prevalence of this disease in the European countries generally. A consideration for the future of our horses would demand the disuse of all sires that are unlicensed, and the refusal of a license to any sire which has suffered from this or any other communicable constitutional disease.

Heredity is one of the most potent causes

Heredity is one of the most potent causes

Heredity is one of the most potent causes

Heredity is one of the most potent causes. The lymphatic constitution is of course transmitted and with it the proclivity to recurring ophthalmia. This is notorious in the case of both parents, male and female. The tendency appears to be stronger, however, if either parent has already suffered. Thus a mare may have borne a number of sound foals, and then fallen a victim to the malady, and all foals subsequently borne have likewise suffered. So it is in the case of the stallion. Reynal even quotes the appearance of the disease in alternate generations, the stallion offspring of blind parents remaining sound through life and yet producing foals which furnish numerous victims of recurrent ophthalmia. On the contrary, the offspring of diseased parents removed to high, dry regions and furnished with wholesome, nourishing rations will nearly all escape. Hence the dealers take colts that are still sound or have had but one attack from the affected low Pyrenees (France) to the unaffected Catalonia (Spain), with confidence that they will escape, and from the Jura Valley to Dauphiny with the same result.

And it has been alleged that the true cause is a microbe

And it has been alleged that the true cause is a microbe

And it has been alleged that the true cause is a microbe

It is evident, however, that no one of these is sufficient of itself to produce the disease, and it has been alleged that the true cause is a microbe, or the irritant products of a microbe, which is harbored in the marshy soil. The prevalence of the disease on the same damp soils which produce ague in man and anthrax in cattle has been quoted in support of this doctrine, as also the fact that, other things being equal, the malady is always more prevalent in basins surrounded by hills where the air is still and such products are concentrated, and that a forest or simple belt of trees will, as in ague, at times limit the area of its prevalence. Another argument for the same view is found in the fact that on certain farms irrigated by town sewage this malady has become extremely prevalent, the sewage being assumed to form a suitable nidus for the growth of the germ. But on these sewage farms a fresh crop may be cut every fortnight, and the product is precisely that aqueous material which contributes to a lymphatic structure and a low tone of health. The presence of a definite germ in the system has not yet been proved, and in the present state of our knowledge we are only warranted in charging the disease to the deleterious emanations from the marshy soil in which bacterial ferments are constantly producing them.

The period of dentition and training is a fertile exciting cause

The period of dentition and training is a fertile exciting cause

The period of dentition and training is a fertile exciting cause

The period of dentition and training is a fertile exciting cause, for though the malady may appear at any time from birth to old age, yet the great majority of victims are from 2 to 6 years old, and if a horse escapes the affection till after 6 there is a reasonable hope that he will continue to resist it. The irritation about the head during the eruption of the teeth, and while fretting in the unwonted bridle and collar, the stimulating grain diet and the close air of the stable all combine to rouse the latent tendency to disease in the eye, while direct injuries by bridle, whip, or hay seeds are not without their influence. In the same way local irritants, like dust, severe rain and snow storms, smoke, and acrid vapors are contributing causes.

Aqueous fodders grown on such soils are other causes

Aqueous fodders grown on such soils are other causes

Aqueous fodders grown on such soils are other causes

The rank, aqueous fodders grown on such soils are other causes, but these again are calculated to undermine the character of the nervous and sanguineous temperament and to superinduce the lymphatic. Other feeds act by leading to constipation and other disorders of the digestive organs, thus impairing the general health. Hence in any animal predisposed to this disease, heating, starchy feeds, such as maize, wheat, and buckwheat, are to be carefully avoided. It has been widely charged that beans, peas, vetches, and other Leguminosae are dangerous, but a fuller inquiry contradicts the statement. If these feeds are well grown, they invigorate and fortify the system, while, like any other fodder, if grown rank; aqueous, and deficient in assimilable principles, they tend to lower the health and open the way for the disease.

Recurrent Ophthalmia Periodic Ophthalmia, or Moon-blindness.

Recurrent Ophthalmia Periodic Ophthalmia, or Moon-blindness.

This is an inflammatory affection of the interior of the eye, intimately related to certain soils, climates, and systems, showing a strong tendency to recur again and again, and usually ending in blindness from cataract or other serious injury.

Causes. Its causes may be fundamentally attributed to soil. On damp clays and marshy grounds, on the frequently overflowed river bottoms and deltas, on the coasts of seas and lakes alternately submerged and exposed, this disease prevails extensively, and in many instances in France (Reynal), Belgium, Alsace (Zundel, Miltenberger), Germany, and England it has very largely decreased under land drainage and improved methods of culture. Other influences, more or less associated with such soil, are potent causative factors. Thus damp air and a cloudy, wet climate, so constantly associated with wet lands, are universally charged with causing the disease. These act on the animal body to produce a lymphatic constitution with an excess of connective tissue, bones, and muscles of coarse, open texture, thick skins, and gummy legs covered with a profusion of long hair. Hence the heavy horses of Belgium and southwestern France have suffered severely from the affection, while high, dry lands adjacent, like Catalonia, in Spain, and Dauphiny, Provence, and Languedoc; in France, have in the main escaped.

The diet throughout should be easily digestible and

The diet throughout should be easily digestible and

The diet throughout should be easily digestible and

The diet throughout should be easily digestible and moderate in quantity bran mash, middlings, grass, steamed hay, etc.

Even after the active inflammation has subsided the atropia lotion should be continued for several weeks to keep the eye in a state of rest in its still weak and irritable condition, and during this period the patient should be kept in semidarkness, or taken out only with a dark shade over the eye. For the same reason heavy drafts and, rapid paces, which would cause congestion of the head, should be carefully avoided.