THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS. 85 
which the feather is to be passed sufficiently far to come into contact with the 
worms, and then turned round between the thumb and finger. 
The turpentine at once kills the parasites, and its application excites a fit of 
coughing, during which they are expelled: this mode of application requires some 
manual dexterity, and at times the irritation proves fatal ; olive oil in the place of 
turpentine is sometimes employed. 
Removing the worms by a feather is troublesome, and the operation is not 
always successful. Fumigation with tobacco smoke is rarely of much avail. The 
administration of turpentine or camphor is attended with danger to the chickens, 
and opening the windpipe and extracting the worms whilst the bird is under the 
influence of chloroform requires surgical skill. 
Knowing the extremely active influence of carbolic acid on the lower forms 
of animal life, I determined to try the effect of the inhalation of its vapour in the 
cases of gapes that came under my notice. I have operated several times on chickens 
and turkeys that were suffering severely from gapes, being almost choked by the worms. 
Each bird was placed in a small deal box, the open top being covered with a cloth. 
I then took a carbolic acid fumigator, consisting of a small metal saucer, heated 
by a spirit lamp. On the saucer I placed about a dozen drops of carbolic acid, lit 
the lamp, and put the apparatus in the interior of the box. Dense white fumes soon 
filled the box, and, being of necessity respired by the bird, came at once into 
contact with the worms. The operation was continued in every case until the birds 
were in some danger of suffocation. They, soon, however, recovered on exposure to 
the air, and on the day following the treatment were running about perfectly free 
from any symptom of disease. 
No special apparatus is required, as any arrangement which will servé to 
volatilise a few drops of the acid will answer; the vapour of carbolic aid may be 
used by putting a hot brick into the box, and pouring a few drops of the acid 
upon it, or it may be volatilised by putting three or four drops in a spoon, holding 
the latter over the flame of a lamp, and placing the head of the bird in the cloud 
of rising vapour. I have had a good deal of experience with birds afflicted with 
gapes, but have never found any treatment at all approach in efficacy that of 
fumigation with carbolic acid vapour. 
In very urgent cases, when the disease has so far advanced that immediate 
suffocation becomes inevitable, the opening of the windpipe, as adopted by Dr. 
Cobbold, may be advantageously had recourse to; or it may be resorted to when 
other methods have failed. In the most far-gone cases, instant relief will follow 
this operation, since the trachea may with certainty be cleared of all obstructions, 
but unfortunately it requires some amount of medical and surgical skill to 
administer the choroform and perform the operation. 
As Dr. Cobbold observes, the most essential thing in view of putting a check 
