336 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



death not unfreqiiently follows. Aud no doubt many such 

 cases have baiHed the skill of the physician, and have been 

 treated as typhoid fever, rheumatism aud various other 

 affections. This subject therefore becomes an open field 

 for study and original ol)servatiou ; for our medical books 

 and veterinary manuals are incomplete, aud many of them far 

 behind the age of scientific advancement, especially in relation 

 to the origin of some of these parasites. The naturalists 

 know far more about these worms than the doctors, even 

 though the latter make many attempts to cure. But Dr. T. 

 S. Cobbold, of the Royal Veterinary College, has done more 

 to awaken an interest concerning the verminous complaints, 

 both in a medical and sanitary point of view, than any other 

 professional man at home or abroad. He has contributed 

 largely on this subject both to the scientific and popular 

 journals, and has published in his "Introduction to Helmin- 

 thology," a complete history and description of many of the 

 internal parasites of man and the lower orders of animals. 

 And he has recently issued a small manual for the veterinary 

 student, which Ave shall adopt as a text-book, and shall 

 require an examination in the same, at the close of the senior 

 year. There are many very interesting features connected 

 with these helminthological investigations, which are no less 

 important to the physician, than they are to the veterinarian 

 and the fiirmer, in a practical point of view. Our poultry 

 for many years have been affected by the "gapes," which 

 disease is caused by the presence of a little worm, known as 

 the Sderostoma syngamus in the windpipe aud bronchial 

 tubes. This parasite frequently produces great havoc, in 

 many places, especially on old farms. It was first observed 

 by Prof. Andrew Wiesenthal, of Baltimore, in 1707, and by 

 George Montague, F. L. S., in 1808. Since that time, very 

 little has been done about that matter, until Prof. Cobbold 

 called the attention of the English people to this important 

 subject. The sheep are afflicted by a similar worm, which 

 has been called according to its shape, the Strong ylus Jilaria, 

 or the round throat-worm. It produces serious results when 

 a flock becomes contaminated with this noxious parasite. 



More investigations are needed in this direction ; for only 

 a year ago I found, to the astonishment of many keen 



