INTESTINAL PARASITES. 3^9 



gas. Vomiting also occurs at times, and in occasional 

 instances worms are expelled in this way. 



Obviously, with worms interfering with digestion and 

 nutrition a victim cannot long hold his own. As a matter 

 of fact, evidence is soon manifested that he is not thriving 

 as he ought, and even in quite mild cases the skin very 

 generally lacks natural softness and elasticity and the coat 

 is dry and rough, while in severe cases these changes are 

 all more pronounced, and the hair sometimes falls out in 

 patches, the mucous membrane of the mouth is pale, show- 

 ing a poverty of blood, there are emaciation and lack of 

 strength, and in some cases complete paralysis of the hind 

 legs. 



But the worst remains to be told. Worms often cause 

 death either by sapping the strength of their victims, 

 intestinal obstruction, convulsions, secondary affections, or 

 boring through the intestines. And while there is no 

 knowing which of these causes is the most frequent, there 

 is reason for believing that the latter is not the least so. 



As a rule, the anatomical characters presented after 

 death by round worms are, redness, swelling and softening 

 of the lining membrane of the intestines. These changes 

 may be limited to small patches, but oftener they extend 

 over considerable portions of the internal surface. The 

 lining membrane is also covered with a tenacious mucus, 

 which is either colorless or of a pinkish or brownish red 

 hue ; while if perforation has occurred there appears on 

 close examination a small opening, oval in shape, in the 

 intestinal wall and generally through the base of a gland. 



Now to consider the measures of treatment required by 

 young puppies infested with worms. Although very 

 many drugs have been credited with anthelmintic proper- 

 ties the list has been shortening rapidly of late years, and 

 at the present time powdered areca nut, santonin and the 



