Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1883-09-27
Blindness.

Blindness occurs frequently in horses,
and very greatly deteriorates their val
ue, rendering them useless for some
kinds of work, and only half useful for
others. The causes of it are often too
obscure or reconcile to be detected be-
fore they produce their effect, or to be
even conjecturally counteracted by any
other means than the general good
treatment of the animals. Two COM
mon but quite incurable kinds of blind
ness in the horse are amaurOsis and
the so-called moon-blindness; and a
third kind is occasioned by ophthalmic
Inflammation.
The blindness of horse, when in
duced, 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 listful
manner when any person enters the sta
BILE, by his hanging back timidly and hest
tating civ in his halter. and especially by
the dilatatiOn or contraction of the pu-
pill of the eye under sudden transitions
from light to darkness. or from dark
ness to light. 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 whip, and from adroit manage
ment, may move with perfect resolu-
ton and freedom.
A horse blind in but che eye may, ac-
cording to circumstances, either be very
little or very much deteriorated. The
loss of one eve does not enfeeble sight;
because the other acquires greater en-
ergy, though it must contract the field
of vision. 1t is said TO render the con-
ception erring. and the case of misjudg-
ment of distances is the one commonly
brought forward to show this. But a
one-eyed horse may not be absolutely
condemned for the common business of
the road or farm.
Blindness is much more frequent. but
far less invetera'e among sheep than
among horses. If almost any flock of
sheep be carefully examined, the eyes of
many of them will either show symp-
toms of partial or total blindness, or
present indications of quite recent re-
cDvery from bIindne SIS of some kind.
The most common causes are prolonged
fatigue, hard driving, chasing about by
dogs, burying beneath the snow, warm
days followed by frosty nights in win.
ter, and, as some think, the blowing
of the pollen of flowers into the eyes,
and sometimes either infection or some
underlined description of epidemic in
fluence.
In some kinds of blindness. the
whole surface of the eye-balls has a
light blue color, resembling the color
of deep salt water when seen perpen-
dicularly in clear sunshine; but in the
more common kinds, white film
gradually spreads over it till the whole
surface seems u pearly wilderness. All
the kinds, however. appear to be pre-
ceded or accompanied by inflammation;
and when properly treated, or even
sometimes when they are merely let
alone, they, with few exceptions,
gradually and speedily disappear.
Blindness not unfrequently attacks
poultry, and may, in general, be easily
cured. 1t is generally a consequence
or an accompaniment of roup. and dis
appears when that disease is cured. 1t
is sometimes the result of pure intlam-
nation of the eye, and may consist in
either cloudiness, liberation or enlarge
ment of that organ, and may be cured
by few lamentations with warm
water, each followed by the introduce
ton of a few drops of very diluted
laudanum between the eye]idS. 1t is
sometimes also the effect or symptoms
of some other disease, and consists in
the closing up of the eye with mucous
matter; and, in this case, it may be re-
moved by such simple means as the
cleansing of the coop, and slight pro
lection in any manner from cold winds
and chilly air.-Prairie Farmer.