COLONEL MONTAGU'S CURE. 89 



care and attention to all the details of the ope- 

 ration are absolutely necessary, to enable the 

 practitioner to steer the middle course between 

 stupefaction and suffocation, I shall here tran- 

 scribe it in the words of Colonel Montagu him- 

 self, to whose intelligence and ingenuity we are 

 indebted for the valuable discovery : 



" In order to administer this fumigation in 

 sufficient quantity, there is some care required 

 that the chickens, which must be confined in a 

 close vessel, are not suffocated. We have re- 

 peated this operation with the utmost success by 

 confining the diseased chickens in a box, with a 

 door on one side about half the height of the 

 box, with its hinges so placed as to open down- 

 wards. By this means the interior can be exa- 

 mined from time to time, in order to observe the 

 density of the smoke and the state of the chickens. 

 To a person in the habit of smoking tobacco there 

 is no difficulty in lighting a pipe, and by intro- 

 ducing the bowl through an aperture, the smoke 

 may be blown in till it appears considerably 

 dense, which must be examined every two or 

 three minutes. 



" When any of the chickens become stupefied 

 by the narcotic quality of the fumes of the 

 tobacco, the operation of blowing the pipe should 

 cease; and as fresh air will rush in when the 



