154 The Canary Book. 



malignant are those known among the medical profession as 

 encephaloid or brain-like tumour, melanoid, fungus, hsematode* 

 or bleeding cancer, &c. This disease is better known among 

 fanciers as " cancer of the bill," " yellow gall," and " warts on 

 the head." Discutients, such as iodine and mercury, are occa- 

 sionally applied for the removal of these unsightly growths, 

 but the " knife " or scissors is the only effectual remedy. 

 Cut away the substance carefully but effectually, and if it 

 bleeds rather freely apply a little burnt alum or a few drops 

 of the muriated tincture of iron. Should these remedies prove 

 unavailing, cautery must be resorted to, viz., burn the part 

 with an iron previously heated to whiteness a knitting-needle 

 would be sufficient in a case of this kind; but I do not 

 anticipate that it will ever be required, as I have never found 

 it necessary, although I have cut off a good many and effected 

 a permanent cure in every case. As soon as the bleeding has 

 ceased, the part should be anointed with a little fatty matter 

 of any sort, provided it does not contain salt; a little sper- 

 maceti ointment is as good as anything you could apply, and 

 will, in the generality of cases, heal the wound in a short 

 space of time. The old-fashioned and well-known cure for 

 warts has in some cases been resorted to with success i.e., 

 to tie a hair from the human head tightly round the extraneous 

 growth, or a fine hair taken from the back of a horse or cow 

 will do, and in a week or ten days the remedy will be complete, 

 and the excrescence disappear, but success can only be expected 

 in cases of adipose tumours. 



TYPHUS FEVER. Some twenty-five years ago, when I pro- 

 pounded the theory that birds suffered from fevers, such as 

 typhus, and kindred diseases, many fanciers, I believe, thought 

 that I had discovered a "mare's nest," but since then careful 

 study and observation on my part, and that of several fanciers 

 belonging to the medical profession, have proved beyond all 

 reasonable doubt that birds as well as human beings are sub- 

 ject to these disorders. Typhus fever has been known to 

 many fanciers for a long period under the common appellation 

 of the " bird plague " or " bird cholera," but beyond the fact 



