TREA TMENT OF WORMS. 617 



The dog often becomes infested with this parasite from eating sheeps' brains ; and dogs thus 

 afflicted and allowed to roam at pleasure over fields and hills where sheep are fed, sow the seeds 

 of gid in our flocks to any extent. We know too well the great use of Collie dogs to the shepherd 

 or grazier, to advise that dogs should not be employed as assistants, but surely it would be 

 to their owner's advantage to see that they were kept in a state of health and cleanliness. 



Says Cobbold : " The propagation of entozoa in general and of tapeworms in particular, is 

 intimately connected with, and absolutely dependent upon, the promiscuous association of different 

 kinds of animals ; and as regards the production of parasitism amongst domesticated animals used 

 as food, it is perfectly certain that the tapeworms of the dog play a most conspicuous part." 



Striking language this from so great an authority, and affording much food for thought. 



One of the commonest tape-worms of the dog is the Tcenia marginata. It grows to an 

 immense length. The dog becomes infested from the sheep. The Tcenia echinococcus is another, 

 very destructive to animal life in the larval state. The Tcenia serrata is the tape-worm most com- 

 monly found in our sporting dogs. The larva of this entozoon is found in the intestines of the 

 rabbit and hare. 



We must be content with merely mentioning another parasite, the Bothrocephalus latus or 

 pit-headed broad tape- worm. If a dog is infested with these he may give it to mankind in 

 the following way. He may, by bathing in a pond, impurify it, the eggs of the parasite may 

 adhere to watercresses, which may be eaten by man ; dogs may also infest celery, lettuce, endive, 

 fruit, as strawberries, &c., &c., and thus the eggs be introduced into the stomach of the human 

 subject. 



Treatment, We ought to endeavour to prevent as well as to cure. 



We should never allow our dogs to eat the entrails of hares or rabbits. 



Never allow them to be fed on raw sheep's intestines, nor the brains of sheep. 



Never permit them to lounge around butchers' shops, nor eat offal of any kind. 



Let their food be well cooked, and their skins and kennels kept scrupulously clean. 



Dogs that are used for sheep and cattle ought, twice a year at least, to go under treatment 

 for the expulsion of worms, whether they are infested or not ; an anthelmintic would make sure, 

 and could hardly hurt them. 



For the expulsion of tapeworms we depend mostly on areca-nut. In order that the tape- 

 worm should receive the full benefit of the remedy, we order a dose of castor oil the day before 

 in the morning, and recommend no food to be given that day, except beef-tea or mutton-broth. 

 The bowels are thus empty next morning, so that the parasite cannot shelter itself anywhere, and 

 is therefore sure to be acted on by the drug. 



Infusion of cusso is sometimes used as an anthelmintic, so is wormwood, and the liquid 

 extract of male fern, and in America spigelia root and pumpkin seeds. 



Ground glass is dangerous, and often ineffective. The best tonic to give in cases of worms 

 is the extract of quassia. 



p, Extr. quassiae gr. ij. ad gr. x. 



Extr. hyoscyam gr. j. ad gr. v. 



f- pil. j. M. 



Ter die. 



The action of the quassia here is anthelmintic as well as tonic, and the hyoscyamus when 

 continued for some time has a gentle action on the bowels, and being a narcotic, it is probably 

 also an anthelmintic. We have the opinion that many narcotics are. 

 78 



