THE DISEASES OF PHEASANTS. 85 



wMcli the feather is to be passed sufELoiently 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 carboKc acid, lit 

 the lamp, and put the apparatus in the interior of the box. Dense white fumes soon 

 flUed 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 wiU serve to 

 volatilise a few drops of the acid wiU 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 vapoiir. 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 s kill to 

 administer the choroform and perform the operation. 



As Dr. Cobbold observes, the most essential thing in view of putting a check 



