INTESTINAL WORMS. " 163 



nevertheless, when they are there, they are capable of doing infi- 

 nite mischief, by their attack on the air passages throughout, and 

 even penetrating to the heart itself. — Worms of the ascaris mar- 

 ginata kind affect the stomach and intestines of young dogs, and 

 cause much mischief; but of the passages, none suffer so many 

 attacks as the nasal cavities. Ozena is a very frequent scourge ; 

 for old dogs have the Schneiderian membrane often painfully af- 

 fected by the discharge they occasion. 



The presence of worms, when they exist in considerable num- 

 bers, is easily detected ; for such a dog has usually a slight cough, 

 his coat stares, he eats voraciously, yet seldom fattens : his evacu- 

 ations prove also a most unequivocal symptom; for they are, in 

 such cases, peculiarly irregular, being at one time loose and slimy, 

 and at another more hard and dry than natural. The belly like- 

 wise is often tense and enlarged. When very young dogs have 

 worms, the first that pass are seldom noticed, for they seem to 

 affect the health but little; but gradually, as they increase, purg- 

 ing becomes more frequent ; and the animal, though lively, be- 

 comes emaciated ; his appetite is often irregular, his nose hot and 

 dry, and bis breath foetid. The growth likewise appears stationary, 

 and in this way, it is very common for him to continue, till a fit 

 or two carries him off, or he dies tabid. In adult dogs, worms are 

 less fatal, though, from the obstructions they form, they sometimes 

 kill them likewise ; and they always occasion a rough unhealthy 

 coat, with a hot nose and foetid breath : and in both the young and 

 the full grown, they occasionally produce epileptic fits. It does 

 not follow, because no worms are seen to pass away, that one who 

 exhibits the other symptoms of them has none ; neither, when they 

 are not seen, does it follow even that none pass ; for, if they re- 

 main long in the intestines after they are dead, they become di- 

 gested like other animal matter. 



The treatment of worm cases in dogs has been like that of the 

 human, and the remedies employed have been intended either to 

 destroy the worms within the body, or otherwise to drive them 

 mechanically, as it were, out of the bowels by active purgatives i 



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