152 CALSrS AND DISTINGUISHING SYMPTOMS. NATURAL REMEDIES. 



in<^ has been bestowed upon the uncertain knowledge of botts and othei 

 Worms than has attracted the attention of our veterinary writers to any other 

 portion of their labours. 



Causes. — Indigestion and consequent stoppage of the ahment in the sto- 

 mach and coecum; which again may be occasioned by bad corn, nmsty hay, 

 Dr hay made from rank grasses, — if all hay whatever does not contain the 

 means of generating insects, when used without sufficient water; also, when 

 either substance be swallowed, as often happens, without being properly mas- 

 ticated, through wearing away of the teeth (see page 17), the lampers, &c. 

 Much pampering of the appetite, by dealers and others, to produce fine coats 

 by means of stimulants, as eggs, wine, ale, bread, diapente, linseed, &c.; 

 when the effects thereof are worn away, these leave the lacteals (see page 47), 

 impaired or offended at being deprived of a short-lived energy. The articles 

 Just enumerated form indigestible crudities that become the appropriate nidus 

 or generating worms in the canal so deprived of its natural functions by arti- 

 ficial means. Consult again what is said at the conclusion of the first book, 

 at page 54, &c. Irregular feeding also tends to the lodgment of crudities in 

 the coecum, or second stomach. 



Symptoms. — A staring coat, with emaciation and weakness, were formerly 

 deemed sufficient indications of the existence of worms to warrant the doctor 

 in pouring into the animal his monstrous mixtures; for a worm case was es- 

 teemed by the professor like a little annuity, pro tem. Those symptoms, 

 however, are at first rather the presage than the concomitants of worms ; since 

 they are also symptomatic of several other internal diseases, some of them pro- 

 ducing worms in the sequel, whilst other some are found still more rapidly de- 

 structive of life than worms are, and therefore demand more immediate con- 

 sideration. Slight affection of the lungs, as well as of the Uver, being of long 

 continuance, occasion partial roughness of the hair, and slight hide-bound of 

 the integuments nearest the seat of disorder, that spreads progressively all 

 over. The cough which accompanies severe attacks of the worms differs from 

 cold in the organs of respiration ; the first being more deep and cavernous, 

 leaving a shake or vibrating heave of the flanks, whilst the former comes off 

 v;ith a wheeze, as if not fetched from so deep a recess. 



As the disorder proceeds, and the worms may be supposed to extend theii 

 ravages, the patient's appetite is subject to extreme variation ; he being some 

 times ravenous after food, at others not caring to eat at all ; which shows thai 

 the stomach is affected, and is frequently succeeded by vertigo, or staggers. A 

 horse with worms that give him uneasiness in the bowels will leave off eating 

 sometimes for two or three minutes, when a cavernous rattle may be heard 

 coming from his inside, and he resumes his feeding. If he endeavours to 

 kick his belly, it has been construed by the worm advocates into the pain oc- 

 casioned by worms gnawing his bowels ; but neither symptom is an invariable 

 indication of worms, for he does the same when attacked by any other pain of 

 the belly — whether colic, tight girth, injury of the sheath, &c. When the 

 worms appear coming away spontaneously, with successive stools, no matter 

 of which kind, it affords proof that the animal has taken grass or hay that con- 

 tains grasses of an anthelmintic property, and points out the propriety of con- 

 tinumghim on the same food. 



A yellowish ordure appearing about the fundament something like flour of 

 sulphur, shows the death of a good number of small worms (ascarides) has 

 t>een occasioned by some such natural means as the preceding. Some worms 

 come away as soon as generated in the aliment, but if no other sign of their 

 existence is manifest, the solitary fact should excite no uneasiness. When bolts, 

 having been detached by similar natural means, leave the stomach — where they 

 do not always cause inconvenience, we find them adhering to the large intes- 



