Treatment.  What to do first.—­Confine the patient in a darkened room and if the attack is severe in bed.

Local Treatment.—­Dry or moist heat should be applied, according to the ease they give.  Leeches are good in severe cases placed near the outer corner of the eye.  Atropine usually made of about the strength of two to four grains Atropine to an ounce of water; or one per cent (1 to 100) may be used, and it should be dropped into the eye from three to six times a day.  The pupil must be dilated and kept so from the beginning to keep the adhesions from forming between the iris and lens.  If too much is used the throat and tongue will feel dry, face will flush, and there will be dizziness and a rapid pulse.  Stop it until that effect is gone and then cautiously use it again.  The bowels should be kept open.

The diet should consist of milk to a great extent.  Water of course can be taken freely.  Soups, broths, gruels, etc., can be used if desired; but meats should be withheld for a time unless the patient runs down.

Caution.—­If a person has any of the special symptoms above mentioned it would be prudent to begin treatment at once.  The great danger is permanent adhesion of the iris to other parts, especially the lens, and the dilating and contracting power may be lost.

Injuries of the iris.—­Concussion of the eyeball may produce an irregular dilation of the pupil.  This is due to paralysis of the sphincter muscle of the pupil, but it generally disappears.  The edge of the pupil may be torn in the form of one or more rents, or the iris may be separated from its root at its circumference, leaving a clear space, or it may be entirely torn from its attachment.

Perforating wounds are accompanied by injury to the lens and other structures; when the cornea is wounded it is often complicated by falling of the lens.  When a small foreign body passes through the cornea and iris a small opening may be seen.  The greatest danger from wounds is due to infection and if it reaches the iris, it may produce violent iritis.  If the lens is displaced or absent the iris being without support, will tremble with every movement of the eye.  In some cataract operations, if there is a loss of the “Vitreous” body a part of the iris may be folded upon itself, thus enlarging the pupil in that point.

[354 Mothers’ remedies]

Cataract.—­This is an opacity of the crystalline lens or its capsule.  The lens is not clear and bright and keeps the light from going through it.  Then it is called opaque.

Senile cataract.—­The vast majority of these cataracts are found after the age of fifty.  They simply come without any known cause.  Of course, injury can cause a cataract and it is then called traumatic cataract.

Symptoms of Senile (Old Age) Cataract.—­Blurred vision, flashes and streaks of light, dark spots, double vision.  There is no pain.  Eye strain due to imperfect sight.  Sometimes the first symptom is ability to read without glasses (second sight).  This is due to the increased refractive power of the lens from swelling.  The lens looks a little whitish through the pupil opening and looks more so as time goes on.