WORMS. 



with the favin, it will do better, for garlic is of great fer- 

 vice in thefe complaints. Horfes that are troubled with 

 botts ought to be purged with calomel and aloetic purges 

 before the weather grows too hot ; and if they be kept to a 

 clean diet after this, it will be a great chance if ever they 

 are troubled with them any more. As the botts generally 

 happen about the grafs feafon, thofe horfes that are turned 

 out to grafs often get rid of them there, by the firft 

 fortnight's purging; and, therefore, thofe that have the 

 convenience of a good pafture for their horfes need not be 

 very folicitous about giving them medicines. 



And the earth-worms, which fome writers call teretes, 

 rotundi, or lumbrici, are alfo beft conquered by calomel and 

 occafional aloetic purges, for worms often come away in 

 purging, when, till then, it has not been known that the 

 Ijcrie was trouljled with them ; and it has been obferved, 

 after thefe have been voided, that the animal has thriven 

 better, grown more lively, and Ihewn more alertnefs at his 

 bufinefs. There can fcarcely be a better plan of treatment 

 than is fupplied in the following formulas, recommended by 

 Mr. Denny in his ufeful work : — Take of calomel, one 

 drachm ; anifeeds, in powder, half an ounce ; treacle, enough 

 to make a ball. This is direfted to be given in the even- 

 ing ; and the next morning the following : — Take of fuc- 

 cotrine aloes, in powder, one ounce ; ginger, in powder, 

 two drachms ; treacle, enough to make a ball : and the 

 above bolus and piu-gative ball mull be repeated, with an in- 

 terval of nine days, until the horfe has taken three dofes. 

 Then it is advifed to give the following alterative powder, 

 daily for about a month ; this procefs does not require 

 any change of diet, or involve any hazard from the effedls 

 of cold : — Take of Ethiops mineral, crude antimony, pre- 

 pared, and anifeeds in powder, each half an ounce ; mix 

 them. The management of the horfe during this courfe 

 of worm medicines is that in common cafes of phyfic ; but 

 fome prefer giving Barbadoes aloes for the removal of 

 worms, thinking it the more efRcacious, becaufe its operation 

 is very rough : and Gibfon thinks it may be given to 

 hackneys, and other horfes of fmall value ; but he never 

 found it more efficacious than the fuccotrine, at the fame 

 time that it expofes a horfe more to gripes and other dan- 

 gerous diforders, unlefs it be properly managed. The 

 following he gives as a cheap well-correfted purge of this 

 kind : — Take of Barbadoes aloes, one ounce ; fait of tartar, 

 two drachms ; ginger, grated, a drachm and a half ; oil of 

 amber, a middling fpoonful ; fyrup of buckthorn, fnfficient 

 to make a ball. The only objettion to this is the quantity 

 of aloes, which would be too confiderable even if of a milder 

 fort for fome horfes. 



It may be obferved, that the fort of worms called afca- 

 rides fometimes come away from a horfe in great numbers, 

 with the help of a purge, and fome get quite clear of them 

 with purges only ; but this does not very often happen, 

 for the horfes that breed afcarides, above all others, are 

 fubjeft to flime and foulncfs in their inteftines. In the 

 human body, afcarides are thought to be bred in the reftum, 

 near to the fundament; but in horfes no other kind than 

 botts ufually adhere to that gut. On the contrary, thefe 

 worms in them feem to be lodged abour the beginning of 

 the fmall inteftines near the ftomach, where they feed on 

 the alimentary parts of the chyle. The botts in a horfe 

 are often feen fticking near the fphinfter ani, and are con- 

 tinually dropping away with the dung ; but the afcarides 

 are feldom feen there, except when the animal has had a 

 purge given him, or when he falls into a natural purging, 

 which often happens from the irritation of the bowels, and 

 then they come away in very great numbers, accompanied 



with much (lime and mucus. Botts feldom alter a horfe's 

 looks, but thefe not only make a horfe grow lean, and look 

 emaciated, but on opening his mouth one may perceive a 

 more than ordinary languid whitenefs, and a fickly fmell, 

 inftead of that livehnefs of colour that is always perceivable 

 in the mouth of a found and vigorous horfe ; fo that, what- 

 ever be the primary caufe, thefe worms feem in a great mea- 

 fure to proceed from a vitiated appetite and a weak 

 digeftion, which renders them the more difficult to be re- 

 moved ; for which purpofe recourfe muft be firit had to 

 the foregoing remedies, and after them, fuch medicines as 

 are proper to ftrengthen the ilomach, promote digeftion, 

 and give tone to the folids. 



The treatment advifed by Gibfon for thefe wormj 

 is chiefly the following: — Take of calomel, prepared, 

 two drachms ; diapente, half an ounce ; make thefe into 

 a ball, with a fufficieut quantity of conferve of rofes, 

 and give it in the morning, keeping the horfe from 

 meat an hour or two before and after the dofe ; and 

 the next morning adminifter a moderate aloetic purge, 

 taking great care to keep the horfe from wet, or from any 

 thing that may expofe him to take cold. The above 

 calomel ball and the purge may be repeated in fix or eight 

 days, and again in fix or eight days more. Or the follow- 

 ing mercurial purge may be given, which will be lefs 

 troublefome, though not lefs efficacious : — Take of crude 

 quickfilver, two drachms ; Venice turpentine, half an 

 ounce. Rub the quickfilver with the turpentine in a 

 mortar till no particle of the former appear ; then add, oil 

 of favin, thirty or forty drops ; fuccotrine aloes, in powder, 

 half an ounce ; ginger, grated, one drachm ; fyrup of buck- 

 thorn, enough to make it up into a ball. 



One of thefe mercurial purges may be given in the fore- 

 going manner, Wz. one in fix or eight days, with all the 

 fame precautions : it will work mildly, and with little or 

 no griping or ficknefs. And another mercurial purge, 

 which is proper to deftroy worms and to cleanfe the firll 

 pafTages, is this: — Take of diagridium, calx of antimony, 

 and calomel, of each two drachms ; fuccotrine aloes, fix 

 drachms ; ginger, grated, one drachm ; oil of favin, cloves, 

 or anifeeds, thirty or forty drops ; fyrup of buckthorn, 

 enough to form the ball. To be given as the preceding. 



When a horfe has gone through a courfe of thefe mer- 

 curial purges, fome advife the following drink to be given 

 two or three times a-week, or till the horfe begins to thrive 

 and look healthy : — Take of rue, camomile flowers, here- 

 hound, of each a handful ; galangals, bruifed in a mortar, ; 

 three drachms ; liquorice-root, fliced, an ounce. Bo3 

 thefe in a quart or three pints of forge-water fifteen or 

 fixteen minutes in a covered veffel, and keep it covered till 

 cold ; then ftrain it through a piece of coarfe canvas, and I 

 give it in the morning upon an empty ftomach. 



Powdered tin has likewife been advifed with the intention 

 of deftroying worms ; and alfo molt of the preparations of 

 antimony : fulphur is alfo good in all fucli cafes ; and even 

 crude antimony in fine powder, given with equal parts of 

 fulphur, often fucceeds in the proportion of an ounce in the i 

 morning and another at night. 



The worms which infeft the bodies of other animals of 

 different domeftic kinds may be deftroyed, expelled, or got 

 rid of, by the fame remedies and modes of treatment, only 

 proportioning their quantities to the nature and ftrength of 

 the animals to whicli they may be given, and regulating 

 the manner of exhibiting and continuing them, to that of 

 the ftates in which they may be at the time, from theeffefts 

 of the worms and other caufes. 



There is alfo a kind of worms which are frequently fatal 



I 



