TREATMENT OF CANKER. 223 



or foul growths in the mouth or throat. Carriers are also 

 liable occasionally to outbreaks on the wattle. General 

 experience seems to prove that many forms are contagious ; 

 but it is possible the fact may simply be that similar conditions 

 cause the same ailment more or less through a loft. Canker of 

 some form or other has repeatedly been traced to foul, neglected 

 water, either in bath or fountain. This should, therefore, never 

 occur, though cases also happen where the greatest cleanliness 

 has been observed. We have already expressed the opinion 

 that the deprivation of green food has probably much to do 

 with the disposition to this type of disease j and we have also 

 reason to believe that scraped cuttle-fish is of the greatest 

 value as a preventive. 



For external cases the most valuable application is carbolic 

 acid. To cankered spots on the wattle, in those malignant 

 cases sometimes called " small-pox," the acid may be applied 

 in full strength by a camel-hair pencil, at intervals of twenty- 

 four hours till checked, afterwards cleansing with diluted acid, 

 one part to a hundred. In this form, two or three purges of 

 Epsom salts often assist a cure. To canker in the esa; about 

 the head, or in the mouth, it is better to apply a dilution of one 

 part saturated acid to eight parts glycerine, twice in twenty- 

 four hours, till the diseased secretion is evidently checked. 

 Another method of treatment recommended by Mr. Betty for 

 canker in the ear is to inject for several days a solution of" 

 sugar of lead, three grains to the ounce, followed by a 

 solution of sulphate of zinc of the same strength. To the 

 more virulent forms of canker which sometimes appear near 

 the joining of the mandibles, especially in Tumblers, either 

 the undiluted acid or the glycerine dilution may be applied, 

 according to circumstances. Some breeders cut off the affected 

 parts and apply lunar caustic to the healthy surface left by the 

 cut ; but after prescribing for many cases, we can recommend 

 the carbolic acid application as — if not infallible — by far the most 



