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APPENDIX IV.
A.-PRELIMINARY NOTE UPON SEVENTY-ONE CASES OF
FILARIA OCULI IN EQUINES.
Definition.—An affection of one or both eyes, characterized by the presence of one or
more immature worms in the aqueous humour of the anterior chamber.
In India, it is chiefly met with in the form of sporadic cases in horses during certain
months of the year, but in Europe, it may assume an Epizootic form in bovines.
Its symptoms are those occasioned by the presence of a foreign body in the eye, viz.,
inflammation and its consequences; and as a rule the organ is destroyed, if the parasite is not
removed in time.
Nomenclature.—In Europe, the affection is known by the names of Verminous Ophthalmia,
' Worm-in-the-eye,' Filaria Oculi, and Filaire de l'æil. In India, in nearly every district
in which it is prevalent, a different name is applied to the affection. In the Lower Punjab, it
is called Mooja ; in Ludhiana district, Ankh-bich-kira, Moof, Look-hook; in Ferozepur district,
Ankh-main-kura; in Lahore district, as Chasm-me-kura, Ankh-ka-kura, and in Jullandhar
district as Ankh-ka-kira and Munj. In Bengal, it is generally designated Sanp or snake in the
eye.
But as some 246 languages and dialects are spoken in the Indian Empire, it is unneces-
sary to remark that this affection is known by numerous synonyms.
Historical Account of Filaria Oculi.—Intraocular Filariasis in the horse is frequently ob-
served in the East—more specially in India, but it is said to be exceptionally seen in Europe and
America. As early as the beginning of the 15th century, a Filaria was noted by Grisoni in the
eye of the ox, but the affection to which the filaria gives rise was only described four hundred
years later by Deguilléme. Since that date numerous have been the papers dealing with filaria
as come across in bovines, especially in France, Belgium and Italy, but only two helmintho-
logists have examined and reported on the intraocular filariæ of the Equidæ. This is easily
accounted for, as nearly all specimens of the worm in question have been collected in this
country and sent to Europe for examination. In 1895, owing to the courtesy of several veterinary
officers in charge of horses at the Government Remount Depôts of Karnal and Saharanpur, I
was enabled to see several cases of the disease and became much interested in its pathology.
Since the above date, whenever cases occurred, some specimens of Filariæ have been forwarded
to me for examination; and in this paper it is my intention to record the results of such
examinations, after shortly stating the observations of previous writers on the subject:—
" The presence of a worm in the interior of the eye of a horse was reported for the first
time in 1622, by Spigel. A century and half later, in 1773, a letter from a Spanish Veteri-
nary Surgeon, Domingo Rayo, mentions such an occurrence in a mule and a horse. Morgan
and Hopkinson state that in 1782 there was exhibited at Philadelphia a horse which had, it
was reported,' a living serpent' in its eye. In 1804, Sick made a similar observation at
Vienna; and since then intraocular helminthiasis has been noted on several occasions in
various parts of Europe and North America."—(Neumann).
Rivolta considered that the immature worm removed from the eye of an ass and
which measured 55 mm. in length was an example of the Filaria equina. This is, however,
very doubtful.
Van Beneden, writing concerning the Filaria papillosa, says " ce ver habite les cavitos
abdominale et pectorale du cheval, de l'ane, du mulet, du bœuf et du buffle, et se loge parfois
dans l'interieur de l'œil on dans ses envellopes. On le voit fort bien se mouvoir dans l'humeur
aquense."
Cobbold, in writing on this parasite, remarks that "one of the most interesting equne
nematodes is the 'eye worm'. Most veterinary writers speak of it as Filaria Oculi, but to
helminthologists it is better known by the more correct designation Filaria papillosa.
Though commonly obtained from the eyeball and its tissues, the worm infests various tissues
and organs of the body, being found in the thorax, abdomen, membranes of the brain, muscles
and cellular tissues. It infests the ass, mule and also horned cattle."
According to Railleit, in 1821, Brown, described a species of Ascaris as obtained from the
eyes of horses, under the name of Ascaris pellucida. It would appear that Kennedy, who
made first mention of the worm in the eyes of equines in India, must have partially followed
Brown's classification and named it Filaria pellucida.
The parasite has been often observed more recently, and details as to the ophthalmia it
occasions have been furnished by Atkinson, Breton, Grelies, Twining and Gibb, Perewall,
Molyneux, Macnama, Adams, etc:
Symptoms.—The effects produced by the presence of ' worm in the eye' are Epiphora, photo-
phobia, conjunctivitis, and spasm of the muscles of the upper lid; the iris is inflamed, the