316 WORMS. 



not necessarily be otherwise. The removal of a portion 

 of skin from a dog's mouth can no more influence him in 

 this particular than the removal of a portion of his tail : 

 neither can it act mechanically, as has been supposed, by 

 taking off the restraint from the tongue ; for the affection 

 that renders the dog harmless consists in a tumefaction, of 

 a specific kind, around the base of the tongue, extending 

 far beyond its fraenum or bridle. Worming, therefore, I do 

 not hesitate to state, is a custom founded on ignorance and 

 misapprehension, when performed as a preventive of the 

 consequences of madness. 



Worming is also practised to prevent gnawing, which young 

 dogs are very prone to do, first from a playful habit, and 

 next to favour the removal of the present and the growth of 

 the future teeth. In human infants, also, the same habit is 

 observed, and from the same cause. In this case, also, worm- 

 ing only prevents gnawing, by making the mouth sore ; for, 

 as soon as the wounded part is well, the dog- recurs to the 

 practice again. 



Worms. 



Dogs are subject to four intestinal animals, three of which 

 belong to the vermes, or worms, and the fourth, I am dis- 

 posed to think, is the larva or grub of one of the musca, or 

 fly race, perhaps of a species of cestrus. In size, figure, 

 and colour, it resembles a small larva, maggot, or gentil of 

 the common flesh fly, having a dark head, between the palpi 

 of which its mouth is situated. I am totally unaware to what 

 chrvsalis it afterwards changes, neither am I better informed 

 by what means it enters the animal. Were it like the larva 

 musca carnaria, intended to live on animal fibre, it would, 

 by its ravages, destroy the body it entered, and, as a chance 

 visitor, the high temperature of the animal body would soon 

 destroy it. If it belongs to the oestrus, it is remarkable that 



