ACUTE PURULENT CONJUNCTIVITIS OF ADULTS, or Gono•rkrul Ophthalmia. This differs from catarrhal conjunctivitis in the severity of its symptoms and in its exciting causes. It is a violent form of inflammation of the conjunctiva; is accompanied with a thick. purulent discharge on the second or third day, and is very apt to occasion loss of vision. It begins with the same symptoms as catarrhal ophthalmia, but in a very exaggerated form. The conjunctiva rapidly becomes intensely red, and soon appears raised from the sclerotic by the effusion of serum be tween them, projecting around the cornea, which remains buried, as it were, in a pit. Similar effusion takes place beneath the mucous mem brane lining the eyelids, causing them to project forward in large, livid, convex masses, which often entirely conceal the globe of the eye. These symptoms are accompanied by severe burning pain, tenderness of the eye, some constitutional symptoms, and slight fever. When the disease
is unchecked, it is liable to produce ulceration or sloughing of the cornea, with the escape of the aqueous humor and protrusion of the iris; and, even when these results do not follow, vision is often destroyed by permanent opacity of the cornea.
The disease is unquestionably contagious, and arises from the application of gonorrheal dis charge or matter to the surface of the eye; and hence is most common in persons suffering from the disease from which this variety obtains its specific name. It may be conveyed directly to the eye, or by means of towels or other articles used by such a person. It is, moreover, often occasioned by the disgusting practice, adopted by the poorer classes, of the eyes in human urine, under the idea that by this procedure they strengthen the sight.