When this terrible affliction visits a stable, let the proprietor firmly oppose all active measures. A shed ought to be procured, cool or shady, and screened on every side, excepting on the north. Every hole, however minute, should be stopped, because light shines through a small opening with a force proportioned to its diminutiveness. The stars and candles in the once popular London Diorama were only small holes cut in the canvas.
The eye-vein is then to be opened, and the lid, if much enlarged, punctured in several places; when the bleeding has ceased, a cloth, saturated in cold water, is to be put over both eyes. As to other remedies, they must be regulated by the condition of the animal. Should it be poor, oats and beans, ground and scalded; cut green meat; gruel made of hay-tea, etc., should be given. No dry fodder must be allowed; all the provender must be so soft that mastication may be dispensed with. The movement of the jaw, sending blood to the head, is highly injurious during an attack of specific ophthalmia.
Let the following ball be given twice, daily:—
| Powdered colchicum | Two drachms. |
| Iodide of iron | One drachm. |
| Calomel | One scruple. |
Make into a ball with extract of gentian.
Observe the teeth while this physic is being taken. The author has taken twenty-five grains of calomel daily, for a month, with impunity; lately, he was slightly salivated by two grains, when not expecting any effect. Mercury, therefore, operates in accordance with the system; it is strong or weak as the body is sickly or robust.
Should the animal be fat, do not therefore conclude that it is strong; obesity is always accompanied with debility. But if the horse be a hunter or a racer, in training condition, still give the medicine prescribed, with soft food, not quite so stimulating, and the ball twice daily. However, as soon as the medicine begins to take effect, which it will do soonest upon the weakly, change it for:—
| Liquor arsenicalis | Three ounces. |
| Muriated tincture of iron | Five ounces. |
Mix, and give half an ounce in a tumbler of water twice daily.
Do not bother about the bowels; endeavor to regulate them by mashes and with green meat; if they should not respond, do not resort to more active measures. Should the pulse be increased, a scruple of tincture of aconite root may be administered every hour, in a wineglass of water; should the pain appear to be excessive, the like amount of extract of belladonna may be rubbed down in a similar quantity of water, and be given at the periods already stated; only always be content with doing one thing at a time. Thus reduce the pulse, for, with the lowering of the vascular action, the agony may become less intense; however, so long as the beats of the artery are not more in a minute than sixty-five, and not very thin or hard, the aconite should be withheld, for during an acutely painful disorder the heart must be in some degree excited.