EYE, DISEASES OF THE. The diseases of the eye enumerated by the surgeon are very nuttier owi»g to the variety of the tissues and parts of which the eye is formed. Nearly all its parts are liable to inflammation and its consequences. (See OplITHALMIA: RETINITIS.) The eyelids are liable to various diseases, as growths of several kinds, most of which the surgeon may remove, and inflammation (see BLEPHARITIS ; STYE) they may be misdirected inward or outward. en tropion and ectropio• (qq.v.) ; and the upper eyelid may droop (ptosis) from paralysis of the motor oculi nerve, increased weight of the lid, or atrophy or loss of the eyeball. The eyelashes may grow in upon the eye (trichiasis, q.v.), and produce se rious results. The duet whose function is to con vey the tears to the nose is liable to inflammation and obstruction. (See LACIIRyMAL ORGANS.) The cornea is liable to opacity in various degree,. (See l'oRNEA.) (For inflammation of the mucous membrane covering the eyeball and eyelids. see CONJUNCTIVITIS.) The pupil may be closed as the result of iritis (q.v.), or of operations for cataracts. (For opacities of the crystalline lens, see CATARACT. For an account of inflammation of the optic nerve, see OPTIC NEURITIS.) An im portant disease of the eye is glaucoma (q.v.). Various affections of vision may arise from pe culiar or altered conditions of refraction, changes in the nerves, or in the action of the muscles moving the eyeball. (See SIGHT. DEFECTS O•.) The parts between the eye and its bony orbit may be the seat of inflammation, abscess, or tumor, making the eye protrude. The movements of the eyeballs may be affected from paralysis of the motor nerves, or from contraction or weak ness of the muscles, causing squinting. (See STRABISMUS.) The eye may lose all feeling from paralysis of the fifth pair of nerves. The whole of the same side of the face, nostril, and mouth will be in the same condition, and the eye becomes inflamed and disorganized. because in
juries to the eye by foreign bodies are not noticed. Substances thrown against the eye may injure it. If a eaustie alkaline substance has got into the eye, weak vinegar or milk is the best thing to introduce until the physician arrives. If it is oil of vitriol (sulphuric acid) that has been the cause of the injury, a weak solution of soda may he used in the first place to neutralize the acid. In gunpowder explosions near the eye, besides the bum the particles are driven into the sur face of it, and will cause permanent bluish stains over the white of the eye, unless they are care fully removed at the time. When chips of glass, stone, etc., are driven into the interior of the eye, there is great danger of destructive inflam mation and sympathetic ophthalmia. (See OPH THALMIA.) lost commonly foreign bodies, as particles of dust, sand, seeds, flies, etc., merely get into the space between the eyeball and the lids, almost always concealed under the upper, as it is the larger, and sweeps the eye. They cause great pain, from the firmness and sensitiveness of the papillary surface of the lid, soon excite inflam mation, and their presence as the cause is apt to be overlooked. The lid must be turned over to find them. To do this, pull the front or edge of the lid forward by the eyelashes, held with the finger and thumb, and at the same time press down the back part of the lid with the tip of the left forefinger, or with a small pencil or key. The lid will readily turn over. when the body way be seen and removed with the corner of a handker chief. In other cases, a solution of cocaine must be instilled and a needle used to dislodge the particle. After the bodies are removed. a feeling as if they were still there may remain fur some time. Consult May, Manual of Diseases of the Eye (New York, 1901).