414 Journal of Agricultural Research voi.xii.no. 7 



While the experiment is inconclusive in regard to the efficacy of coal- 

 tar phenols for stomach worms in sheep, since the experiment animals 

 were so lightly infested, it failed completely as a remedy for lightly 

 infested animals, and there seems to be no reason for considering that it 

 would be more successful in heavily infested sheep. 



There can be little doubt that the treatment is dangerous. Two out 

 of four sheep in the first experiment died, the post-mortem showing 

 lesions of pneumonia, pleurisy, and gastritis. In the second experiment 

 both sheep collapsed after drenching, but seemed to recover. The pneu- 

 monic condition observed in the dead sheep may be attributed to getting 

 some of the fluid in the lungs, an error in drenching, to be sure, but one 

 almost impossible to avoid when giving as much as 473 mils of drench. 

 In the writers' experience sheep will usually take quietly 118 to 177 

 mils of fluid by drench; but, after more is given, they begin to struggle, 

 making the drenching increasingly difficult. Furthermore, the hemor- 

 rhagic lesions in the stomach of one of the dead sheep would seem to indi- 

 cate the absorption of phenols through the gastric mucosa. 



For worms in dogs. — A further test of the anthelmintic efficacy of 

 phenols was made, using another preparation, which is recommended as 

 an anthelmintic for worms in dogs, the dose recommended being 5 to 8 

 drops (0.3 to 0.48 mil) in a tablespoonful (14.79 mils) of castor oil. The 

 writers used 0.48-mil doses, administering this dose to each of two dogs, 

 weighing, respectively, 8.6 and 11.3 kgm. On the fourth day after 

 treatment one dog passed two ascarids and the other passed a headless 

 chain of segments of Taenia hydatigena. This latter dog showed 

 an infestation with ascarids {Belascaris marginata), hookworms 

 {Ancylostoma caninum), and tapeworms {Taenia sp.), and, as the 

 treatment had been unsuccessful except for the partial removal of a 

 tapeworm, the animal was not killed. The other dog was killed 

 and found to have three B. marginata and three A. caninum. 

 The treatment, therefore, was somewhat efficacious against ascarids 

 in one case, but entirely inefficacious in the other. It was effective 

 against A. caninum in both dogs. It also appears to be ineffective 

 against Taenia, since it did not bring away the head, but this is a point 

 that should have been confirmed post-mortem. 



We may conclude from the experiments on dogs and sheep, above 

 recorded, that the phenols in the form of commercial disinfectants and 

 dips are likely to be of little value and dangerous as anthelmintics. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH VEGETABLE ANTHELMINTICS 

 OLEORESIN ASPIDII 



For worms in dogs. — Oleoresin aspidii is the classic remedy for 

 use against tapeworm. In the discussion of chloroform as an 

 anthelmintic for hookworms (page 403) the writers have already 



