262 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



curred, is soon followed by others, each more violent 

 than the preceding, until at length, the little animal 

 staggers about half unconscious, refusing to eat, rap- 

 idly wasting, and soon dies convulsed. In some cases, 

 the megrims occur when the fowl is poor and half- 

 starved ; but then the food has been improper ; it has 

 been watery or disposed to "fermentation ; diarrhoea 

 has followed, and the fits are the consequence of in- 

 testinal irritation. Other young fowls will have oc- 

 casional fits, from which they will rapidly recover, and 

 appear to be little or nothing the worse. The me- 

 grims," he adds, " must be stopped as soon as possible. 

 Castor oil and syrup of ginger will be a very good med- 

 icine, and be much improved by syrup of. white pop- 

 pies added to it. The fowl that has once had the 

 megrims should be confined for some days, but in a 

 tolerably large place, where it may obtain some de- 

 gree of exercise." 



This treatment, it may be observed, proceeds upon 

 a total ignorance of the seat of the disease, as so well 

 proved by M. Flourens. Dr. de Sala adopted the best 

 possible method of cure, by applying leeches to the 

 nape of the neck. The food should be light and scan- 

 ty, and the^affected fowl should be confined in a rathei 

 dark coop. 



PIP, OK THRUSH. 



This may be regarded as a token of derangement of 

 the mucous membrane of the alimentary canal gener- 

 ally, and not as a local disease. It is considered va- 

 riously by different writers. Dr. Bechstein describes 

 it as a catarrhal .inflammation producing a thickened 

 state of the membrane lining the nostrils and mouth, 

 particularly the tongue. M. Buc'hoz, on the other 

 hand, thinks it caused by want of water, or by bad, 

 water, such as the drainings of dunghills, sinks, &c., 

 which fowls will drink when they can get no other. 



The symptoms of the " pip," consist in a thickening 



