DISEASES OF POULTRY. 269 



May, his attention was called to a duckling of a brood 

 newly hatched, which was reported to have swallowed 

 something that stack in its throat, appearing to be on 

 the point of suffocation, continually opening its broad 

 bill, and breathing with extreme difficulty. He exam- 

 ined the fauces, the windpipe, and the gullet, and found 

 nothing; but the struggles of the little creature contin- 

 ued to increase, and it finally died in an hour or two. 

 On opening it, no foreign substance was found, neither 

 in the gullet nor windpipe ; but the lungs were of a 

 deep-red, and gorged with blood, showing that its death 

 had been caused by acute inflammation of the lungs. 



Another duckling of the same hatch was pointed out 

 to M. Flourens, which had been suddenly seized with 

 symptoms similar to the preceding ; and while he was 

 examining this, a third was struck so suddenly with op- 

 pression of the chest, that it stood motionless, gasped for 

 breath, had violent palpitation of the heart, left off eat- 

 ing and drinking, and died in two or three hours, as did 

 the second one. He opened both, and found the same 

 inflammatory engorgement of the lungs which he had 

 observed in the first. The disorder indeed was evi- 

 dently acute inflammation of the lungs. 



The terrace where he found the ducklings thus seized, 

 and which was badly situated for rearing poultry, had 

 a northern aspect, and the sun scarcely reached it. It 

 was consequently cold, and cold alone seemed to be the 

 cause of the pulmonary inflammation in the ducklings. 

 To try the effect of a warmer exposure, M. Flourens 

 caused the remaining ducklings of the hatch, seven in 

 number, to be removed to a poultry yard, having a 

 southern aspect, and perfectly exposed to the sun. Upon 

 carefully warming the little creatures, the inflammation 

 disappeared from the chest, and did not return. All 

 the seven ducklings lived and grew up to adult age. 



In the beginning of October, 1826, M. Flourens pro- 

 cured a brood of twenty-three chickens, about a month 

 old. As soon as the cold weather appeared, he placed 

 six of these in a suitable place, where he kept up a mild 

 temperature during the day, and at night made them 

 sleep in baskets warmly covered. None of these six 



