The parent or
nurse is apt to suppose, when this inflammation first appears, that it
is merely a cold in the eye, which will go off; and the consequences
which I have just mentioned take place, in many cases, before they are
aware of the danger, and before the medical man is resorted to for
assistance.
I only desire, in mentioning this complaint, to inform the attendants
of the lying-in-room of its great importance, that it may not be
trifled with, that upon its first approach the physician may be
informed of it, and that the treatment he directs for its cure may be
sedulously and rigidly followed.
SYMPTOMS.--The inflammation commonly comes on about three days after
birth, but it may take place at a later period. It may be known by its
commencing thus:--When the child wakes from sleep, the eyelids will be
observed to stick together a little; their edges will be redder than
natural, and especially at the corners; the child experiences pain from
the access of light, and therefore shuts the eye against it. A little
white matter will also be observed lying on the inside of the lower
lid. After a short time, the lids swell, become red on their external
surface, and a large quantity of matter is secreted, and constantly
poured from the eye; the quantity of discharge increasing until it
becomes very great.
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