118 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



the latter. Cobbold,* on the contrary, believes in the efficiency of this 

 method, and adds that this efficiency may be increased by impregnating 

 the feather with a germicide snbstance. Bartlett, who nsed salt for this 

 end, or a weak infusion of tobacco, informed him that the essence of 

 turpentine also had given excellent results. Cobbold adds with reason, 

 that unless great care be exercised with this method the birds may be 

 seriously injured.f 



These means, at once mechanical and medicinal, have been suggested 

 several times and varied in different ways. One of our correspondents 

 Informed us that he had cured pheasants of the red worm by removing 

 the parasites with a small rod and pouring into the mouth of the birds 

 a few drops of Fowler's solution. Another pretends to have removed 

 the parasites with a piece of copper wire, which had one end curved 

 like a handle and dipped into oleum hypericum (red oil). We do not 

 doubt that they could have succeeded in thus removing red worms 

 lodged in the pharynx, but we do not believe that they could have ex- 

 tracted worms by this method from the root of the trachea near the bi- 

 furcation of the bronchi, where they are most frequently lodged ; for It 

 is actually impossible to employ a rod, and above all, a metallic wire 

 curved into a hook, as it would undoubtedly tear the trachea. The fact 

 that young pheasants, and more frequently adults, sometimes recover 

 spontaneously from the gapes, may have given rise to their apparent 

 success. This happens when they are affected hy only a small number 

 of parasites, which may go through the phases of their development 

 to their death without producing suffocation. This is the only mode of 

 fatal terminatioQ, and it requires a certain number of j^arasites, from 

 twenty to thirty couples for adult, and from five to ten for young i)heas- 

 auts. In these cases the disease is cured in spite of, and not because 

 of, a certain mode of treatment. 



One of the most rational methods of treatment has been pointed out 

 by Montagu, who did not stop with the common method ^ibove men- 

 tioned, but who obtained much success with the following means com- 

 bined : Removal from the infected places, complete replacement of the 



* Parasites: London, 1879; p. 44.5. 



t Cobbold's exact words conceruiu"' this method are as follows {}nc cii): 



"First. The simplest plan consists, as Dr. Wieseuthal lonj;- ago pointed out. in 

 stripping a feather from the tube to near tlie narrow end of the shaft, leaving only a 

 few uninjured webs at the tip. The bird being secured, the webbed extremity of the 

 f(<athcr is introduced into the windpipe. It is then twisted round a few times and 

 withdrawn, when the worms are found attached. In some instances this |)lan suc- 

 ceeds entirely. 



" Secondly. The above inethod is rendered more effectual when the feather is previ- 

 ously steeped iu some medicated solution which will destroy the worms. Mr. Bart- 

 lett employs salt for this purpose, or a weak infusion of tobacco; and he informs me 

 that the simple application of turpentine externally is suiHcient to kill the worms. 

 It should be borne in mind that the bird itself may be injuriously affected by these 

 drugs if they are carelessly employed." Note that the turpentine is to be used ex- 

 ternally. — Ed. 



