132 COMMON SENSE 
important article on the place. In order to fully explain my plans 
and the reasons for this admission it will be necessary to digress a 
little 
It is a well known fact, that many of the parasites and diseases 
which afflict man and the lower animals, are propagated and dis- 
seminated chiefly, if not wholly, through their excrements, and in 
many cases the parasite adheres.to the vegetable which forms the 
food of the animal, and is swallowed with it. A curious instance 
of this is the fluke, which is so fatal to sheep that are fed on marshy 
ground. ‘he fluke is a parasite whose history we may trace ‘from 
the time when it makes its home in the snail; the snail crawls out 
on the damp grass and is swallowed by the sheep. In the body 
of the sheep, the parasite matures, forms its eggs and discharges 
them—a single fluke originating as many as 40,000 eggs. These 
eggs are carried by winds, rains, the hoofs of animals and other 
means into ponds, ditches, etc., where each one develops ‘into 
a free-swimming embryo, that, after some changes, passes into 
the body of a snail, there to pass through further changes, ‘and 
again take up its journey through the circuit of its existence. 
From this it is obvious that’a single “rotten” sheep—that is, one 
afflicted with flukes—is capable of infecting an entire field, and of 
carrying disease and death into a large’flock.’ ‘he same is true of 
a diseased chicken. In the-chicken the “ gapes” are known to be 
caused by a parasite. ‘The eggs of this parasite, passing through 
the chicken fall on the ground and are picked up by other 
chickens when they are taking their food or swallowing gravel. 
The same is the case in regard to true chicken cholera. This dis- 
ease is caused by minute organisms which infect the intestinal 
canal of the chicken, and which are voided in millions in the excre- 
ments of ‘birds so afflicted. It is easily seen that any other 
chickens feeding on such soiled ground, or eating the green plants 
grown thereon, will become infected in the same way. And, yet, 
one writer actually tells us that chickens should be made to 
scratch over their own excrements and pick out: the gravel con- 
tained therein, so as to save the trouble and expense of providing 
fresh gravel !! 
