Feb. i8. 1918 Efficacy of Some Anthelmintics 421 



Santonin and calomel for worms in hogs. — Before the present 

 European war, when the price of santonin justified its use for live 

 stock, it was much recommended for roundworms (Ascaris suum) 

 in swine. Since the separate dosing of a herd of swine requires 

 considerable time and labor and the handling of the animals is likely 

 to excite them and may lead to their being injured, it i§ usually the 

 custom to mix the medicine with the feed, allowing a few hogs to eat 

 from the same trough at one time. If the drug is well mixed with the 

 feed and the animals are of about the same size, it is assumed that they 

 will get approximately the same dose. This method was tested by the 

 junior writer for a number of drugs. In this series of experiments the 

 worms passed were not counted; nor were the animals killed. The 

 feces were previously examined for ascarid eggs, and the efficacy of the 

 drug was judged solely by the presence or absence of eggs in the feces 

 three days after the administration of the anthelmintic, care being taken 

 to verify all negative findings by one or more repeated fecal examinations 

 at 3-day intervals. 



In the first experiment, after a preliminary fast of 24 hours, three 

 hogs weighing 15.4 to 18 kgm. were given santonin and calomel allowing 

 130 mgm. of each per hog. The drug was shaken up in 473 mils of water, 

 poured over a bran-mash feed and thoroughly stirred in. The feces 

 of all the pigs were positive for ascarids {Ascaris suum or suilla) at the 

 beginning of the experiment. Three days after the treatment the feces 

 of all the pigs were still positive. As the treatment failed to free any 

 of the pigs from ascarids {A. suum), it was repeated, giving 194 mgm. 

 of santonin and calomel instead of 130 mgm. The second treatment was 

 equally without results. A third trial was made in which the pigs were 

 dosed individually after preliminary starvation, each pig receiving 194 

 mgm. each of santonin and calomel. This treatment resulted in the 

 apparent elimination of all ascarids from one of the pigs, the other two 

 remaining infested. These hogs were then dosed individually with 

 259 mgm, each of santonin and calomel, all subsequent fecal examinations 

 being negative. 



It appears from the above that santonin and calomel should be given 

 in repeated and separate doses to be effective. Probably three doses of 

 santonin at intervals of three days would be effective. No symptoms 

 of poisoning were observed either in dogs or pigs, although the pigs were 

 given a dose more than twice as large as is usually prescribed for animals 

 of their size. According to the Veterinary College at Ames, lowa,^ not 

 over 4 grains (259 mgm.) of santonin should be given to the largest hog. 

 It would seem that the treatment of swine with santonin requiring 

 apparently three separate doses to be effective, is far too laborious and 

 costly for use, especially as we have a more reliable and less expensive 

 drug in oil of chenopodium. 



• Treating pigs for worms. In Breeder's Gaz., v. 64, no. 8, p. 315. 1913. 



