318 WORMS. 



slig-ht coiig^h, liis coat stares, he eats voraciously/ yet seldom 

 fattens : his evacuations prove also a most unequivocal synip- 

 tom ; for tbey are, in such cases, peculiarly irregular, being- 

 at one time loose and slimy, and at another more hard and 

 dry than natural. The belly likewise is often tense and en- 

 larged. When very young dogs have worms, the first that 

 pass are seldom noticed, for they seem to affect the health but 

 little ; but gradually, as they increase, purging becomes more 

 frequent; and the animal, tiiough lively, wastes, and his hip 

 bones may be plainly felt. The growth likewise appears 

 stationary, and in this way it is very common for him to con- 

 tinue, till a fit or two carries him off, or he dies tabid. In 

 adult dogs, worms are less fatal, though, from the obstruc- 

 tions they form, they sometimes kill them likewise ; and they 

 always occasion a rough unhealthy coat, with a hot nose and 

 fcBtid breath ; and in both the young and the full grown, 

 they very commonly produce epileptic fits. It does not fol- 

 low, because no worms are seen to pass away, that a dog, 

 who exhibits the other symptoms of them, has none : neither, 

 when they are not seen, does it follow even that none pass ; 

 for, if they remain long in the intestines after they are dead^ 

 they become digested like other animal matter. 



The tj^ealment of worm cases in dogs has been like that of 

 the human, and the remedies employed have been intended 

 either to destroy the worms within the body, or otherwise to 

 drive them mechanically, as it were, out of the bowels by 

 active purgatives : but, as these latter means were violent 

 (for, without the very mucus of the bowels, as well as the 

 foeces, were expelled, no benefit was derived from them), so 

 the remedy, in many instances, became worse than the disease. 

 Many substances have, therefore, been tried, in hopes of de- 

 stroying these animals within the body ; and it is evident, that 

 any thing that could certainly do this would be most import- 

 ant, as it would obviate the necessity of having recourse to 

 the violent purgatives means heretofore employed. 



For this purpose, substances which present small spiculi, 

 or points, have been found the best adapted, effectually de- 



