220 WORMS. 



rabies ; he had the caustic applied to his hands, and could not persuade 

 himself that he was safe until he had been at the baths of Bourbonne. a 



There is a worm inhabiting the stomach of young dogs, the Ascaris 

 Marginata, a frequent source of sickness, and occasionally of spasmodic 

 colic, by rolling itself into knots. It seems occasionally to take a dislike 

 to its assigned residence, and wanders into the esophagus, but rarely into 

 the larger intestines. A dog had a severe cough, which could not be sub- 

 dued by bleeding or physic, or sedative or opiate medicines. He was 

 destroyed and one of these ascarides was found in the trachea. Others 

 find their way into the nasal cavity ; and a dreadful source of irritation 

 they are when they are endeavouring to escape, in order to undergo one 

 of the changes of form to which they are destined, or when they have been 

 forced into the nostril in the act of vomiting. 



I once had a dog as a patient whose case, I confess, I did not under- 

 stand. He would sneeze and snort, and rub his head and nose along the 

 carpet. I happened to say that the symptoms in some respects resembled 

 those of rabies, and yet, that I could not satisfy myself that the dog was 

 rabid. The mention of rabies was sufficient, and in defiance of my re- 

 monstrances the animal was destroyed. 



The previous symptoms led me to examine the nasal cavity, and I found 

 two of these ascarides, one concealed in the middle and the other in the 

 upper meatus, through neither of which could any strong current of air be 

 forced, and from which the ascarides could not be dislodged. 



Worms may be the cause of sudden death in a dog. The following case, 

 communicated by Professor Dick, illustrates this fact : I lately had the 

 body of a dog sent to me : his owner sent the following letter by the same 

 conveyance. " My keeper went out shooting yesterday morning with the 

 dog which I now send to you. He was quite lively, and apparently well, 

 during the former part of the day ; but towards evening he was seized 

 with violent vomiting. When he came home he refused to eat, and this 

 morning about eight o'clock he died. As I have lost all my best dogs 

 rather suddenly, I will thank you to have him examined, and the contents 

 of his stomach analyzed ; and have the kindness to inform me whether he 

 has been poisoned, or what was the cause of his death." 



On opening the abdomen, the viscera appeared quite healthy : the 

 stomach was removed, and the contents were found to be more decidedly 

 acid than usual. The acids were the muriatic and acetic : the finding of 

 an increased quantity of these is far from being unusual. There was not 

 a trace of arsenical, mercurial, nor any other metallic poison present. Of 

 the vegetable poisons, I can only say that there was not the slightest trace 

 of the morbid effects of any of them. The pericardium and the left side 

 of the thorax contained a small quantity of bloody serous fluid, and the 

 heart was full of black blood. The left lung was a little inflamed. The 

 trachea contained some frothy yellow mucous matter, similar to the con- 

 tents of the stomach. In the larynx was found one of those worms occa- 

 sionally inhabiting the cavities of the nose, and which had probably escaped 

 from the nose while the dog had been hunting, and, lodging in the larynx, 

 had destroyed the animal by producing spasms of the muscles of the larynx. 

 The worm was about one inch and a half in length, and had partly penetrated 

 through the rima glottidis. Another worm about the same size was found 



ft Prat. M6d. Vet. 1824, p. 14. 



