WOKMS. 399 



stroyer of bacteria. Dr. Wliitla remai'ks with reference to human 

 practice that " recent reports from Chili state that 2 oz, doses of 

 a saturated solution of the drug in water, when given with milk 

 before meals, relieved dysentery, dyspepsia, typhoid fever, etc." 



Tapeworms {Tcenice) 



have been found in the horse j but so rarely that we need not con- 

 sider them here. Their jjresence more or less injuriously affects 

 the animal's health. 



Worms {Nematodes). 



All the worms which are observed to come away from the horse, 

 whether naturally or by the influence of medicine, should be thrown 

 into a fire or into boiling water, so as to cut short their power of 

 evil. The free use of common or rock salt renders the intestines 

 of the horse a more or less unsuitable place of residence for these 

 l)arasites. As the eggs and embryos of several kinds of the worms 

 which infest the horse are to be found in water, especially when 

 the water is stagnant ; the best preventive measure is attention to 

 the quality of the water consumed by the horse, whether as drink- 

 ing water, or as water adhering to forage, such as grass, lucerne, 

 roots, etc. The hotter the climate, the more does stagnant water, 

 other things being equal, teem with forms of animal and vegetable 

 life which, like the worms we are considering, are hurtful to the 

 health of the horse. In India, the practice adopted by native 

 grass-cutters, of soaking the grass, so as to add to its weight and 

 to increase its apparent freshness, before giving it to horses, is the 

 cause of many of these animals becoming infested with worms, on 

 account of the water selected for damping the grass being in many 

 cases stagnant, and consequently polluted. 



The following are the chief kinds of worms found inside the 

 horse : — 



1. THE HOUND WORM {ascaris megaloceiDhala) resembles an 

 earth worm in shape. It is yellowish-white in colour, stiff and 

 elastic. AVhen full grown, it varies from 6 inches to 14 inches in 

 length, and generally resides in the small intestine ; although it 

 sometimes invades the stomach, in which its presence usually causes 

 great derangement of the horse's health. These parasites probably 

 gain entrance into the animal's body in the water he drinks, or 

 in the damp forage he eats. " The eggs which they lay, are never 

 hatched in the intestine, but are expelled with the dung " (Cagny 

 and Gohert). They often reside in the horse without giving any 

 apparent trouble, in which case their numbers are probably small. 



