64 Observations on Parasites and Parasitic Diseases 



advances for freeing the animals from them, it being well known 

 that with the fall of the hair many of them, together with the " nits," 

 will be cast off. This fact is due to the circumstance, before 

 explained, that these lice live among the hair, feeding upon the 

 desquamating epidermis, and not upon the blood of the animal, 

 and hence they are not fixed to the skin. It is not an un- 

 frequent remark of such persons, " Oh ! a few lice wont do any 

 harm, they'll soon be gone when the bullocks get to grass." 

 Dependence, however, should never be placed on the fall of the 

 hair, for it often happens that the animals will continue to be 

 lousy throughout the whole summer, and come back in this 

 state to the yards in the following autumn or winter very little 

 improved in condition. 



In the application of remedies for the destruction of lice on 

 cattle, even a greater necessity exists for avoiding all arsenical or 

 mercurial compounds when they are present on the horse. Cattle, 

 as is well known, are in the habit of licMnrj themselves wherever 

 their tongue can reach, and not only so, but they will also freely 

 lick each other. In this way scores of animals have been poisoned 

 when dressed with these and similar deleterious agents. One 

 notable case came, many years since, under our immediate obser- 

 vation, in which no less than eleven yearlings were killed out 

 of thirteen by their owner having used upon them an arsenical 

 compound which he had procured from a druggist. 



In the ' Tiansactions of the Veterinary Medical Association ' 

 for 1841-2, a case is recorded by Mr. H. Hutchinson, M.R.C.V.S., 

 East Retford, in which fifteen bullocks were poisoned, one of 

 which died, in consequence of being dressed with "a solution of 

 arsenic and soft soap." In the ' Veterinarian ' for 1843, Mr. C. 

 Lauder, M.R.C.V.S., Dumfries, relates an instance of thirty-two 

 animals being washed with an arsenical sheep-dip, eight of which 

 died. An allied case is published in the ' Veterinary Record,' 

 for 1846, by Mr. E. Musgrave, M.R.V.S., Hereford, in which 

 two deaths occurred out of " twenty-eight cows, yearlings, and 

 calves " that were dressed for lice. 



Many other instances of the kind might be mentioned, as 

 scarcely a year passes without similar mishaps. We will, how- 

 ever, content ourselves by giving one other which is replete 

 with information and somewhat of a singular character. The 

 case is related on the authority of Mr, R. Bowles, M.R.C.V.S,, 

 Abergavenny, who furnished us with the particulars a few years 

 since. It appears that a notion prevails in many parts of Wales 

 that when cattle are affected with lice, it is only necessary to 

 smear the base of their horns Avitli strong mercurial ointment, and 

 the parasites will quickly disappear. Acting on this vulgar error, 

 a farmer obtained some ointment and used it pretty freely upon 



