DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



6ii 



selves, sharp friction with snow or ice-cold 

 water, but the time for that is usually past 

 when observed. In the United States, where 

 this accident is more frequent and more severe, 

 the best recommended remedy is lard 2 ozs., 

 quinine i oz., kerosene 3 ozs., melting and incor- 

 porating all together. Gentle friction with this 

 is said to cure even bad cases, if not left till 

 altogether too late. Others use vaseline 5 

 drachms, glycerine 2 drachms, spirit of tur- 

 pentine i drachm. Frost-bite may be largely 

 prevented by well greasing all over the comb 

 and wattles every day in very frosty weather. 



Gapes. — The disease well described by this 

 name carries off hundreds of chickens and very 

 young birds in England, and is still more destruc- 

 tive in France and America. Every chicken 

 which opens its mouth and gapes, has not how- 

 ever got the " gapes " : such an action may be 

 seen in healthy birds. The real disease is most 

 common in England from two to six weeks 

 old, but rnay occur at a week, or after several 

 months, and is shown not only by the frequent 

 gaping, but by the bird appearing also unwell, 

 coughing and sneezing occasionally (in which 

 process the worm may often be seen to be 

 coughed up), getting weak, rough in feather, 

 and often standing with closed eyes. When 

 badly affected, a few die from suffocation, but 

 more from weakness and exhaustion, as the 

 worms prey upon the juices as well as obstruct 

 breathing. The disease is as destructive 

 amongst pheasants as poultry, also among 

 other birds. It is caused by a small reddish 

 worm now known as Synganius tradiealis, the 

 male and female of which are almost always 

 found together in conjugation in the form of the 

 letter Y, the main stem being the female and 

 varying from half an inch to as much as 

 i^ inches long, the attached male about one- 

 fifth of an inch. The worm attaches itself 

 to the surface of the trachea or windpipe by 

 both its mouths, or both tips of the Y. Out of 

 hundreds of specimens found and extracted, 

 we should estimate that not 10 per cent, were 

 single or uncopulated, and it is likely enough 

 that even of these the male had adhered by its 

 own mouth to the chicken, and been torn off. 

 The greatest number we have ever known in 

 one bird was thirty-five worms, or pairs. The 

 disease was once believed to be only one of 

 chickens or very young birds, an opinion which 

 we formerly shared ; but as we have since found 

 many specimens in full-grown fowls, and as the 

 larger and stronger chickens attacked often 

 recover without treatment, the truth appears 

 to be that such birds can endure a moderate 

 number of these parasites without serious 



suffering, until they have run their course and 

 been ejected. 



The eggs of the gape-worm do not exceed 

 2-joth of an inch in diameter, and there are 

 many thousands in the body of one female. 

 They are not laid, but liberated by the disinte- 

 gration of her body, each egg containing when 

 mature a small white embryo ; and it was 

 found by M. Megnin that these never hatch 

 within the pa}-e?it, however mature, but will do 

 so and liberate the embryo wherever they have 

 moisture and a heat of not less than 68 ° or 70^ F. 

 Hence they will hatch in damp earth or tepid 

 water, and he kept some alive in water alone 

 at the requisite temperature. There is no doubt 

 that such polluted warm water will communi- 

 cate gapes, the embryo commencing to grow 

 whenever it reaches the trachea of a chicken ; and 

 possibly the egg itself may hatch there, though 

 all known facts appear to negative the transmis- 

 sion of gapes by swallowed eggs alone. Hence 

 Megnin concluded that no intermediate host 

 is concerned in an outbreak of gapes. Others 

 have affirmed the same, and a leaflet issued 

 by the Board of Agriculture in 1901, after 

 alluding to statements made in The Illustrated 

 Book of Poultry thirty years ago, and repeated 

 presently, concerning the probable connection 

 between gapes and insect vermin, affirms, 

 " Needless to say there is no connection what- 

 ever." To ignore a large quantity of positive 

 evidence on the ground cited, does not exhibit 

 so much the superior scientific knowledge 

 evidently supposed, as an ignorant dogmatism 

 which under pseudo-scientific pretences has done 

 so much harm in many cases besides this, and 

 would for instance have prevented the recogni- 

 tion of vaccination for small-pox. The fact 

 proved is simply that the life-cycle of the 

 worm requires no real " host " for any stage of 

 its development ; but whether it does not 

 practically depend jtpon some carrier or bearer 

 in the majority of outbreaks, is quite another 

 thing, and there are further facts also known 

 which make this a very practical question, 

 (i) It is known that the eggs are often found 

 in large numbers in the digestive canal of 

 both the large and smaller earthworms : we 

 have seen many such under the microscope, 

 and in a few cases in summer free embryos, but 

 these latter have never appeared to us to show 

 any growth whilst in the worms. (2) They 

 have also been found in and upon small 

 molluscs in water. (3) It has been proved 

 that infected earthworms fed to chickens may 

 produce gapes : but we could never obtain 

 enough infected molluscs to test that matter, 

 which is worth investigation. (4) The most 



