618 THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE 



lint, dipped in a solution of nitrate of silver, eight grains to the ounce 

 of distilled water, and over this a bran poultice. In most cases, how- 

 ever, it is better to foment the part well, and then apply the tincture of 

 arnica neat. 



A BRUISE on a thin sole will sometimes cause matter to form, in which 

 case the horn must be cut away, and the case treated as for quittor. Before 

 matter forms, the horn should be reduced, and the foot should be placed in 

 a cold bran poultice. 



CHxVPTER XXXIV 



PARASITES 



WORMS 



There are a number of worms that cause loss of condition in horses, 

 and even death, when by their habits they pierce vital structures and form 

 nests, as with the strongulus armatus, who chooses for a home the junction 

 of some important artery. Professor Cobbold, who made helminthology a 

 life stud}^, says in his Internal Parasites of the Domesticated Animals, 

 " Although the parasites of the horse and ass are sufficiently numerous as 

 species, their importance in relation to disease of these animals is, speaking 

 generally, far less than that which obtains in the case of other domestic 

 animals similarly aflfected. The large round worms {Ascaris megalocejjhala), 

 though occasionally present in great numbers, are readily got rid of by a 

 dose of aloes. The flukes {Fasciola hepatica) are too unimportant and rare 

 to merit attention. As to the strongles, which give rise to aneurisms in old 

 horses and donkeys (Strongulus armatus), no doubt they are sometimes the 

 cause of death, but the amount of mortality from this cause is exceedingly 

 trifling. 



" A very small strongle {Strongulus tetracanthus) is in some seasons a 

 source of serious loss among young horses, and for a long time defied all 

 remedies. At the suggestion of Dr. Blanc, the well-known head of the 

 Indian Medical Department, and one of the Abyssinian captives, the 

 experiments tried by Miss Dillon on desperate cases proved that thymol, 

 in sufiicient doses, is a certain destroyer of the pest. The doses, to be 

 efficacious, should be not less than fifteen grains in the early morning, the 

 same quantity at night, and a dose of castor-oil at midday the next day. 

 To be repeated in a week, if any sign remains of undestroyed ova. 



'The sharp-tailed thread-worms or ma \v- worms (Cu;^ur js cwr uzi^ct) certainly 



