The Eye is the seat of various inflammations, coming on from causes totally distinct from one another. Thus, in distemper, there is generally an inflammation, with discharge, and sometimes the inexperienced attendant will fear that the eye will be lost; but if the dog recovers his strength, the eye, in almost all cases, is restored also, and especially if it is not interfered with. If, on the other hand, an attempt is made to apply remedies, with the intention of saving the sight, the effect is the reverse of good, and the disease is aggravated so far as often to cause the ulceration to extend through the cornea, and destroy the eye. In ordinary ophthalmia, arising from cold, there is considerable injection of the vessels of the white of the eye, which becomes red and swollen. In this kind, if an ulcer appears, it will often eat through the cornea, and the eye will be lost by a discharge of its contents. Sometime, again, in a weakly young dog, there is a low kind of inflammation, with great intolerance of light, and a discharge of watery fluid instead of thick pus. This is strumous ophthalmia, and requires a very different treatment. A third kind of ophthalmia, the rheumatic, is unattended by discharge; the vessels are deeply gorged, and the pain great.

This, however, is a disease peculiar to old dogs, and from that cause may generally be distinguished from the strumous, and from the ordinary ophthalmia, by the absence of discharge. There is also an inflammation, the result of accident, which sometimes destroys the eye rapidly, and requires energetic treatment. The Treatment of ordinary ophthalmia should depend upon its severity, which, if great, will demand bleeding and .strong purgatives, followed by a grain of calomel and opium two or three times a day. When an ulcer appears, a wash should be used daily, consisting of the nitrate of silver in solution, or the sulphate of zinc, according to the formulas given under Eye-washes. In the strumous kind tonics are necessary, consisting of 1 grain of quinine and 3 of hemlock, in a pill, three times a day. When the rheumatic form shows itself, a brisk purge must first be given, and then the iodide of potassium should be administered according to the formula at page 12. If this does not succeed, a seton may be inserted in the neck.

Cataract consists in an opacity of the crystalline lens, for which nothing can be done; for although it might be removed by operation, the dog would still be unable to see for want of the glasses, which, in the human subject, supply its place. It may easily be recognised by the clear white pupil, which takes the place of the ordinary dark centre of the organ.

Dropsy of the eye is only the result of chronic inflammation, and little can be done to alleviate it, as the eye is almost always destroyed before the disease proceeds so far as to cause dropsy.

Amaurosis, or paralysis of the nerve, is generally a sign of disease of the brain, either produced by injury or from overfeeding. The dog is more or less blind without the eye showing any change in form, and even at first being preternaturally bright. But if the dog is watched, he is seen to be blind by his striking his head against objects in his way, and by his timid mode of moving about. If the disease is recent, the dog may possibly be cured by smart purgatives and a seton; but, in most cases, very little benefit is experienced from these remedies.