150 OSTRICH-FARMING IN SOUTH AFRICA. 



In treatment, the physician, whilst determining from 

 the joints voided in the stools which kind of worm his 

 patient is suffering from, keeps him on a reduced diet 

 of clear soups and slops for some days, to get the 

 stomach and entrails completely empty, when he gives a 

 vermifuge best adapted to the kind of worm, and 

 follows it with a strong purgative. He then, under 

 a magnifying-glass, examines every atom of the 

 stools, to see if the head of the worm or worms 

 has been passed. If so, the cure is complete ; if 

 not, and only several yards of the body of the worm 

 has come away, leaving the head, he sets to work 

 to build up his patient's strength again for another 

 attempt. We have a friend whom the most learned 

 London physicians, after several attempts, gave up as 

 incurable, and who carries his worm to the present day, 

 and Avill do so till it dies of old age — the supposed length 

 of life of this parasite is fifteen years. 



The Toenia found usually in the Ostrich is known as 

 the broad tape-worm, or Bothriocephalus. Dr. Becker, 

 of Grahamstown, reports discovering in one case a Toenia 

 Serrata, the small tape- worm common to the dog, but 

 this is the only case in which we have heard of it. We 

 shall, therefore, confine our remarks to the common one. 

 This is found in great numbers in the same host ; pro- 

 bably fifty or more could be counted. It is either 



