406 INTERNAL PARASITES. 



recently discharged, they are the colour of arterial blood, but they 

 dry up rapidly and the colour becomes darker, and they thus 

 easily escape the notice of the casual observer. . . . The tem- 

 perature is often sub-normal ; appetite usually impaired, often 

 capricious; and indigestion, with abdominal pains, is by no means 

 an uncommon complication '^ (Wilkie). Formerly the disease was 

 often called pernicious anaemia or water farcy. 



The gravity of the case depends chiefly on the youth of the 

 animal and on the number of worms that are in him. As the adult 

 parasites are blood-suckers, and as the immature ones cause irrita- 

 tion to the intestine while they are in their cysts, we can easily 

 understand how death often occurs from exhaustion and diarrhoea, 

 in which blood is sometimes found. It is probable that the disease 

 is chronic, only when fresh relays of these worms are imported into 

 the intestine from time to time; because the eggs are carried 

 out along with the dung, and adult worms are frequently expelled 

 in the same manner, in varying numbers. Hence, if the patient is 

 removed from further infection, we may reasonably infer that the 

 chance of his recovery will be far greater, than if his system re- 

 mains exposed to the continued entrance of these parasites. 



Treatment. — ^Recently, the good effects of thymol in this disease 

 has been amply proved. It may be given daily in doses of from 

 10 to 15 grains for four or five days, followed by a drench of 

 linseed oil, suitable in quantity to the age and size of the patient 

 (p. 595). Thymol is most easily given in dry food. The best 

 method for its administration is in a gelatine capsule, as a ball. It 

 is insoluble in water, but the amount here prescribed would readily 

 dissolve in a glass of whisky or other spirits, which could be mixed 

 in a pint of milk. Dr. Whitla, writing about human practice, says 

 that thymol " should never be given in solution, as it causes a 

 burning sensation in the throat and mouth." Thymol can be 

 repeated as may be required. 



The strength should be kept up by liberal feeding, such as hens' 

 eggs (from 6 to 12 daily) and corn; and about 4 oz. of common 

 salt should be mixed through the food every day. In the case 

 of an animal at grass, the corn should be supplied gradually, so 

 thai; his digestive organs may become accustomed to it. Care 

 Bhould be taken that the water he gets is absolutely free from 

 parasites. 



5. FILARIiE are thread-like worms, which, when full grown, 

 are from, say, 2 to 6 inches in length. Their tails are more or 

 less curled. They are usually found in serous sacs, such as the 

 cavity of the abdomen, that of the chest, that of the pericardium 

 (the sac which covers the heart), and the cavity which contains the 



