190 WORMS. 
required. They are obliged to live by man’s direction, and are expected 
to display the highest spirit whenever they are taken abroad. Should 
it be astonishing if the framework nature has so exquisitely balanced 
occasionally becomes deranged under man’s barbarous and selfish sway ? 
Is it cause for legitimate wonder if, under so coarse a rule, disease some- 
times assumes strange forms, or attacks parts which are beyond the 
reach of human science ? 
WORMS. 
Worms are of various kinds; but all, according to the notions of 
ignorance, announce their presence by particular symptoms. The para- 
sites, when really present, can, however, cause no more than intestinal 
irritation, the continuance of which may give rise to several disorders. 
Chronic indigestion is by the groom always recognized as a ‘‘wormy 
condition.” 
The only certain proof of the existence of such annoyances is visible 
evidence. Upon suspicion, careful horse proprietors may administer 
certain medicine, because some physics only cool the body and cleanse 
the system. The generality of worm-powders are, however, too potent 
to be safe. Like all drugs sold as ‘certain cures,” they are so powerful 
that they frequently do more than remove the disorder which they pre- 
tend to eradicate—for they also destroy the animals to which they are 
administered. 
Having premised thus much, the author will now commence to describe 
the usual form of irritation to which worms of 
different kinds give rise. 
The parasite especially inimical to colts is 
the tenia or tape-worm. It is mostly per- 
petuated by the farmer’s prejudice, which pro- 
cures foals from dams that are done up for 
work: which starves the mother till her pro- 
duce runs by her side, and which attempts to 
rear young stock upon the sour grass of a pub- 
lic common. Both sire and dam should be in 
perfect health if a valuable colt is desired: 
neither can be too good. The mare should not, 
during gestation, be “turned out” to distend 
the abdomen with watery provender—to have 
guR TENIA oR TAPE-worm, the stomach and intestines filled with bots—to 
allow filth and excretions to accumulate upon 
the coat and to check the healthy functions of the skin. Gentle work, 
only sufficient to earn the stable-keep, will injure no animal. The mare 
