WORMS, 



of the (li allot plants : it is a method wliich has never been 

 found to fail in preventing worms and maggots in fuch 

 crops. 



Cauliflowers, broccoli, and the roots of other fuch plants, 

 may be preferved from the effefts of worms, by watering 

 the drills of them well with foap-fuds before planting them 

 out, and afterwards occafionally : this not only, it is faid, 

 prevents the worm, but encourages the growth of the plants, 

 and in fome meafure prepares the ground for other vegetables 

 that are liable to the fame fort of attacks. 



The maggot is confidered by fome as peculiar to the 



onion and Ihallot, and that whenever the former becomes 



difeafed, it is moll liable to its attacks ; and that as it 



could never be detedted in the foil, it is highly probable 



that the ova or eggs of it are depofited in the root, and may 



be hatched in the greateft: numbers when the plants are in a 



iickly ftate. It is not fuppofed, that the maggot ever paffes 



from one onion to another ; but that any remedy which is 



fufficiently powerful to deftroy the infeft muft inevitably 



deftroy the onion itfelf; that all that can be done is, 



therefore, to feleft proper foils and fituations for the onion 



crops. 



I It is remarked, however, that the maggot which attacks 



[i -the carrot is unqueftionably to be found in the foil, and 



;i that it vifibly enters from without. 



I It is concluded on the whole, that worms and infefts of 

 ,: thefe kinds in general are driven from their retreats under 

 I ground, by pouring bitter or acrid water upon it, as fuch in 

 ii which green walnuts have been fteeped, or of which a ley 

 ; has been made by diflblving potafti. See feveral papers in 

 1 the firft volume of the " Memoirs of the Caledonian Hor- 

 ' ticultural Society." 



Worms, in Medicine. Three fpecies of worms infeil the 

 human body ; namely, the Ascaris, Lumbricus, and the 

 'Tania or TAPZ-lVtrm; which fee refpeftively. 

 I Worms were formerly fuppofed to be a common caufe of 

 lia feries of morbid fymptoms, efpecially in children ; but it 

 IB now well underftood, that the difeafe afcribed to their in- 

 jfluence is a marafmus depending upon other morbid con- 

 ditions of the alimentary canal. The fymptoms of thia 

 I difeafe have been already detailed, under the head of DiJ- 

 ea/es q/" Infants, to which we refer. 



' Tin is often recommended as a good remedy againft 

 I worms, particularly of the flat kind. Dr. Alfton, in the 

 'Med. Efl^ Edinb. vol. v. art. 7. direfts an ounce and a 

 ihalf of the powder of pewter-metal to be mixed in half a 

 'Scotch mulchkin, or about half a pint Englifli meafure of 

 treacle, for children ; but to grown perfons, he gives two 

 |Ounces of the powder of pure tin, pafled through the fineft 

 ihair-fieve, and mixed with eight ounces of treacle. As to 

 |the adminiftration of this medicine, the original receipt 

 direfts half of it to be taken the Friday before the change 

 lof the moon ; the day after, half the remainder, and the reft 

 ion Sunday. On the Monday, a purge is to be taken. The 

 'do^or thinks there is probably nothing in the particularities 

 |of the day ; but fays, the medicine fucceeds well in feveral 

 jfpecies of worms. 



! The efficacy of fern-root againft worms was known in the 

 (time of Diofcorides ; and towards the beginning of this 

 Icentury, Melfieurs Andry and Marchant publiflied accounts 

 !of fuccefsful modes of exhibiting it in thefe cafes. But it 

 [has been principally celebrated of late as a fpecific in the 

 jcure of the txnia, or tape-worm. 



, Dr. Prieftley, confidering how fatal nitrous air is to 

 bifefts, and likewife its great antifeptic power, conceived 

 !:hat confiderable ufe might be made of it in medicine, in the 

 !:orm of clyfters ; and he apprehends, that if nitrous air was 

 I Vol. XXXVIIl. 



diluted with common air, or fixed air, the bowels might bear 

 it better, and that it might ftill be deftruaive to worms of 

 all kinds, and be of ufe to check or corred putrefaftion in 

 the inteftinal canal, or other parts of the fyftem. Prieftley's 

 Obf. on Air, vol. i. p. 227. 



Worms, in Animals, a troublefome fort of vermin often 

 found in the inteftines of the horfe, and fome other animals, 

 caufing difeafe. See Botts, Earth- IVorm, Ascarides, 

 TiENiA, and Teretes. 



With refpeft to the caufe of worms in horfes, it is 

 imagined, that, as in the human fubjeft, fome conttitutions 

 are more inclinable to breed worms than others. Gibfon 

 fays, the moft ufual caufe of worms is foul or high feeding, 

 which occafion crudities and flimy indigefted matter in the 

 ftomach and bowels, (efpecially in horfes that have been 

 pampered for fale,) forming a proper nidus for worms. 

 This indeed may be the cafe, but the primary caufe of 

 worms is that which occafions thefe crudities, to wit, a 

 want of energy in the funftions of the ftomach and bowels, 

 as worms are never found in animals perfedlly healthy in 

 thefe refpefts. 



According to Gibfon, the figns of worms in horfes are 

 various, according to their different kinds. The botts that 

 many horfes are troubled with in the beginning of fummer 

 are always foimd tticking to the reftum, and are often 

 thruft out with the dung, along with a yellowifh-coloured 

 matter, like melted fulphur. They are no way dangerous 

 there, but they are apt to make a horfe reftlefs and uneafy, 

 and rub his breech againft the pofts. The feafon of their 

 coming is ufually in the months of May and June, after 

 which they are feldom to be feen, and rarely continue in any 

 one horfe above a fortnight or three weeks. Thofe that 

 take pofleffion of the membranous portion of the ftomach 

 are extremely dangerous in caufing convulfions, and are 

 feldom difcovered by any previous figns before they bring a 

 horfe into violent agonies. See Botts. 



But the teretes or earth-worms give little difturbance to 

 a horfe, and would hardly be difcovered, unlefs they were 

 feen now and then to come away with the dung. Fre- 

 quently horfes void one or two, and no more ; and fome- 

 times they will void pretty large quantities of the young 

 brood, not much larger than the afcarides, only of a red 

 colour, and not white, as the latter generally are. They 

 are moft ufual in autumn, or the beginning of winter, 

 though a horfe may now and then void one or two of thefe 

 at other times of the year. 



However, the afcarides, or fmall needle-like worms, are 

 very troublefome to horfes, breed at all times of the year, 

 and often when one brood is deftroyed another fucceeds. 

 Thefe are not at all dangerous, yet when a horfe is peftered 

 in this fort of way, though he will go through his bufinefs 

 tolerably well, dnd fometimes feed heartily, yet he always 

 looks lean and jaded ; his hair ftares as if he was fickly, and 

 nothing that he eats makes him thrive. That he feels pain, 

 too, is plain, for he often ftrikes his hind foot againft his 

 belly, which fhews where his grievance lies, and is fometimes 

 griped, but yet without the very violent fymptoms that 

 attend a colic or ftrangury. He never rolls or tumbles, 

 but only ftiews uneafinefs, and generally lays himfelf down 

 quietly on his belly for a little while, and then gets up, and 

 begins to feed ; but the fureft fign is, when a horfe voids 

 thefe worms with his dung. 



In regard to the cure, if a horfe be troubled with botts, 

 Gibfon fays, he may be reheved vpithout much expence or 

 trouble, only by giving him a fpoonful of favin, cut very 

 fmall, once or twice every day, in oats or bran moiftened ; 

 and if three or four cloves of chopped garlic be mixed 

 4 T with 



