Dr. Baird on Entozoa, or Intestinal Worms. 149 



lambs, to fatten them as quickly as they can, and to slaughter 

 those that may become affected the moment the disease is ascer- 

 tained. This is a most lame and impotent conclusion. I am 

 sorry for it; but truth must be our guide." These remarks 

 upon diseases of cattle and sheep I hope will not be considered 

 out of place here, for it has been calculated that the worth of 

 our cattle and sheep in this country is little, if anything, below 

 120 millions sterling ! 



Horses are not liable to such fatal affections from Entozoa as 

 sheep and cattle ; nevertheless they suffer to a considerable ex- 

 tent from them occasionally. The Ascarides in their intestines 

 are very troublesome. A horse pestered with many of these 

 worms, though he will go through his business tolerably well, 

 and sometimes feed heartily, yet always looks lean and jaded ; 

 his hair stares as if he were sickly, and nothing that he eats 

 makes him thrive. He shows symptoms of pain in his bowels 

 by often striking his hind feet against his belly. These kinds 

 of worms are seldom dangerous ; but horses are sometimes at- 

 tacked (and this has chiefly been observed in India) by a small 

 thread-like worm, which gets into the aqueous humour of the 

 eye, and if not attended to and extracted in time, invariably 

 produces blindness. This worm is the Filaria oculi. 



The last disease I shall mention is one which attacks pigs, and 

 causes much loss to those who keep many of these animals. It 

 is produced by an Entozoon called the Cysticercus cellulosa, and 

 in this country is known by the name of " measles." In France, 

 where it is equally common, it is called " la ladrerie." It is a 

 disgusting disease, and manifests itself at various periods of the 

 animaFs life, more particularly when it is adult. It makes-its 

 appearance in the form of white granulations or vesicles of an 

 ovoid shape, which are disseminated through the different parts 

 of the fatty tissue, on the surface, in the interstices of the 

 muscles, under the coats of the viscera, at the lateral and inferior 

 portions of the tongue, &c. It is in the muscles that the disease, 

 for the most part, makes its first appearance, and it is accompa- 

 nied by general weakness. If you take hold of the pig by one 

 of its legs, the animal makes no attempt to withdraw it; it 

 utters a dull cry ; the bristles are easily torn from the skin, and 

 sometimes the bulb is full of blood. As the disease progresses, 

 the cellular tissue ulcerates ; as the vesicles increase in number, 

 the pig becomes sullen, careless of everything around it, indif- 

 ferent even to blows; it walks slowly and carelessly; the eyes 

 are dull and heavy ; the inner surface of the mouth becomes of 

 a pale colour, often spotted with violet-coloured spots; the 

 respiration is slow ; great weakness supervenes ; it cannot keep 



