DISEASES AND THEIR TREATMENT 93 



the most effective when applied to stocks of high-class 

 exhibition birds. 



Disease, as I have said elsewhere, is a departure from 

 the normal state of health, and something which has the 

 power of limiting both the enjoyment and duration of 

 life. There are diseases which are organic, that is affecting 

 some particular organ of the body, there are also functional 

 diseases which disturb the regular functioning of the body 

 even though all the organs are sound. Even in the 

 human being there are diseases which thus far have 

 completely baffled our cleverest physicians and surgeons, 

 men who have devoted years and years to study and 

 research. Even now the nomenclature of disease is not 

 clear and well defined. Some diseases are named after 

 their symptoms, as instance, cramp and cough. Diseases 

 which cause change in particular organs are defined, 

 in this connection all which end in " itis " mean that 

 there is inflammation in some particular organ, whilst 

 those ending in " aemia " mean that the fault lies in the 

 blood. 



From the names of diseases we pass on to their cause, 

 or, as the scientist would put it, their etiology. A very 

 common cause of disease is food. Dirty, musty, kiln-dried 

 seed, badly mixed soft foods, stale egg food, decayed green 

 food and irregular feeding are frequent causes of disease 

 so far as feeding is concerned. Badly ventilated and 

 ill-Mghted bird-rooms, to say nothing of unclean] iness, 

 and the non-observance of ordinary hygienic rules in the 

 bird room, all cause disease. 



Medicine and its Administration. 



Canaries are such tiny little creatures that it is im- 

 portant to exercise the greatest care in the administra- 

 tion of medicine. When harmless remedies are being ad- 

 ministered a little latitude in the doses either one way or 

 the other would have no effect, but, when one is dealing 

 with drugs which are most potent in action, a drop or 

 two in excess of the proper dose may mean death instead 

 of relief. One speaks of table-spoonful, tea-spoonful, 

 or wine-glassful in a rough and ready way. Let us see 

 what they really mean. Roughly speaking, sixty drops 

 make one drachm, or tea-spoonful, two drachms one 



