DISEASES OF POULTRY. 291 



fails, give a bolus made of five grains chalk, five grains 

 rhubarb, three grains cayenne pepper, and half a grain of 

 opium, one in the morning, and another in the evening ; or 

 three to twelve drops (according to size) of chlorodyne 

 every four hours will almost always stop it. 



Diphtheria. It is uncertain whether or not this 

 malignant disease, marked by white or yellowish growths 

 about the throat, is a modification of the ordinary roup 

 virus or not. Very often it is combined with roup, the 

 birds being attacked with ulcers about the eyes, nostrils, 

 comb, or face, or in the inside of the mouth or throat, 

 besides the usual roup symptoms. On the other hand, in 

 some cases the latter are not present, while the diseased 

 formation may be plentiful. This complaint broke out 

 with such virulence in 1876 as to be called "the new 

 disease," and has never since been absent from England. 

 The form in which white or yellowish membrane forms 

 in the throat, or on the tongue, or anywhere inside the 

 mouth, is properly "diphtheria" or "diphtheritic roup," 

 and is often accompanied by roup symptoms. So deadly 

 is it that many advise wholesale slaughter and disinfection : 

 but many cases have, beyond doubt, yielded to treatment. 

 This is most hopeful where one or two birds only are 

 attacked, obviously from outside infection, in a clean and 

 generally healthy yard. If such cases be at once isolated from 

 the rest, it may be well to treat them ; but if that cannot be 

 done, instant execution is cheapest in the end. Also if the 

 disease appears when fowls have access to pig-troughs, or 

 manure-heaps, or drainage, or in some farmyards, the case 

 is almost hopeless, as the germs find such ample breeding- 

 ground. 



The fowls attacked should at once be placed apart in 

 a hospital, free from draught, and a slight aperient given 

 of from one-third to half a tea-spoonful of Epsom salts. 



