340 • LARYNX, TRACHEA AND BRONCHI. 



VERMINOUS BRONCHITIS IN SHEEP AND CATTLE (HUSK, HOOSE, ETC.). 



Lambs, young sheep, and calves sometimes suffer severely from infes- 

 tation with lung worms, which set up great irritation in the bronchial 

 passages, leading to chronic bronchitis. The animals show frequent 

 attacks of paroxysmal coughing, during which some of the parasites may 

 be expelled. The irritation produced causes serious loss of condition, 

 and if not alleviated may lead to death. The parasite of the sheep is 

 known as Strongylus Jilaria (sheep lungworm), that of the calf Stwuc/ijhis 

 micrnrus. The worms are from 2 to 4 inches long, whitish in colour, 

 and of the diameter of a hat-pin. 



Treatment. According to generally accepted views among veteri- 

 narians and zoologists, it is a comparatively simple matter to kill 

 worms in the bronchial tubes, and a number of cases of the disease 

 are reported in literature which are alleged to have been cured. These 

 views, however, are open to very serious doubt. 



Neumann (1892b, pp. 590, 591, 693, 594) summarises the subject of 

 treatment as follows : — 



Two different procedures in treatment are pursued. In one, sub- 

 stances are passed into the digestive canal, which, being diffused in the 

 blood, are believed to be capable of attacking the worms in the bronchial 

 tubes. With this view, the picrate of potash (0*20 to 0*40 gram per head) 

 is given, dissolved in thin gruel or mucilage ; creosote ; oil of turpentine ; 

 a mixture of equal parts of oil of turpentine and tincture of camphor — a 

 teaspoonful every day to each lamb in a mucilaginous fluid ; a mixture of 

 creosote 120 grams, spirits of wine 500 grams, and water 700 grams — 

 an ordinary spoonful every day to each animal ; or creosote 60 grams, 

 benzine 300 grams, water 2 litres — an ordinary spoonful given every day 

 for eight days to each sheep. Hall states he has successfully employed 

 prussic acid in ten-drop doses, morning and evening. 



But experience has shown that, while such treatment is troublesome 

 to carry out, its efficacy cannot be relied upon. 



Success is more certain with fumigations, as they penetrate directly 

 to the worms, stupefy them, and induce fits of coughing that cause expul- 

 sion. They are practised in buildings from which all forage is previously 

 removed, and which are well closed. Into these the diseased [animals] 

 are introduced, and on a red-hot shovel are placed rags, horns, feathers, 

 hair, old pieces of leather, empyreumatic oil, tar, juniper berries, 

 asafetida, etc. The intensity, duration, and number of these fumiga- 

 tions are graduated as the sheep become accustomed to them. At first 

 once a day may suffice, and then the intensity should be moderate and 

 the duration about ten minutes; afterwards two, and finally three, may 

 be given during the day, each lasting for twenty minutes. Kowalewsky 



