DISEASES. 61 



decay, if they are only present in small numbers, can be rejected 

 by the body as soon as it has sufficient oxygen to breathe, as 

 the bacteria of blood-poisoning are destroyed by oxygen, and 

 nourished on the want of it. This miserable disease is 

 extremely poisonous and very infectious, and, therefore, causes 

 the illness of all arrivals as soon as one individual among 

 them is attacked. The excretion may cause infection, even 

 after months (Dr. Grun). Treatment recommended: Liquor 

 chlori (15 and 16), milk of sulphur (79), phosphoric acid 

 (69), quinine (14), tannin (82), extract of ergot (21 and 

 22), salicylic acid (73 and 74), salicylate of soda (61 and 62), 

 carbolic acid (43 and 45), and similar preparations, to be taken 

 internally, or administered by subcutaneous injection ; also 

 chilies (50). A dealer in Leipsig claims to have attained the 

 best results from giving yolk of egg, beaten up in a little 

 water. The use of ozone water (66), or the influence of 

 oxygen, according to Dr. Grun's prescription, up to the present 

 gives no guarantee of recovery, and I must repeat my con- 

 viction, that all birds which are attacked with this disease 

 are completely lost, and that, unfortunately, up to the present 

 time we have no reliable remedy, nor yet the power to put a 

 stop to this wretched trade (see p. 8). I cannot decide with 

 certainty whether this disease of Grey Parrots is one and the 

 same as the above described sickness, or typhus (infectious 

 typhoid). 



Deopsy. — Cause : Cold, especially after incautious forcible 

 bathing in the case of the large parrots ; inflammation of the 

 peritoneum, probably succeeded by other disorders, such as 

 tubercles in the intestines. Sym^noms : At first, difficulty in 

 breathing, then the body becomes swollen, and when it is much 

 swelled, a fluid can be distinctly observed in the swollen part. 

 Fortunately this is of rare occurrence. Cure : Scarcely possible. 



Intestinal Worms. — In several cases of late it has been 

 ascertained with certainty that tape-worms and ascarides exist 

 sometimes in parrots as well as in other birds. The former I 

 have myself found and the latter have been sent to me. No 

 researches have been made either as to the kinds of parasitical 

 intestinal worm from which parrots suffer, nor as to their 

 transmission by contagion. It would also be superfluous to give 

 the symptoms caused by their presence, for emaciation, &;c,. 



