248 



THE CANADIAN SPORTSMAN AND NATURALIST. 



Growing rapidly worse I was called to attenp 

 him. Monday, my first day, his appearance 

 was that of a man laboring under a severe 

 cold. Had slight congestion of the lungs, and 

 inoderate grade of fever. His nose seemed 

 greatly swollen and he complained of a smart- 

 ing, uneasy feeling in it, and general misery 

 through the head. Gave him treatment to 

 relieve the congestion and fever. Tuesday saw 

 him again. His nose and face were still more 

 swollen, and in addition to the other symptoms 

 he was becoming slightly delirious and com- 

 plained a great deal of the intense misery and 

 annoyance in his nose and head. A few hours 

 after, I was sent for in haste with the word 

 that something was in his nose. I found on 

 examination a mass of the larva; of this fly 

 (or "screw-worms" as they are commonly 

 called in the south) completely blocking up 

 one nostril. On touching them they would 

 instantly retreat en masse up the nostril. 

 Making a 20 per cent solution of chloroform 

 in sweet milk I made a few injections up both 

 nostrils, which immediately brought away a 

 large number, so that in a few hours I had 

 taken away some 125 of them. By Wednesday 

 evening erysipelas had begun, implicating the 

 nose and neighboring portions of the face. An- 

 other physician was called. By continual sy- 

 ringing with a strong antiseptic solution of 

 salycilate of soda, bicarbonate of soda and car- 

 bolic acid we hoped to drown out the remain- 

 ing larva?. But they had by this time cut their 

 way into so many recesses of the nose and were 

 so firmly attached that we were unable to ac- 

 complish much .^Finally we resorted to the chlo- 

 roform injections, which immediately brought 

 away a considerable number. Friday I was 

 able to open up two or three canals that they 

 had cut, extracting several more that had li- 

 terally packed themselves one after another in 

 these fistulous channels. His speech becoming 

 suddenly much worse, I examined the interior 

 of his mouth and found that a clear-cut open- 

 ing had been made entirely through the soft 

 palate into his mouth and large enough to 

 insert the end of a common lead pencil. Sa- 

 turday the few remaining larva? began chang- 

 ing color and one by one dropped away. On 

 Sunday for the first time hemorrhage from 

 both nostrils took place, which continued at 

 intervals for three days but was not at any 

 time severe. On this day the patient began to 

 improve, the delirium and erysipelas having 

 subsided leaving but little or no annoyance in 

 his head. In a few days he became able to go 



about home, and even to* walk a distance of 

 half a mile to visit :i friend and return. But 

 while there he began complaining of a pain in 

 the neighborhood of his left ear, apparently 

 where the eustachian tude connects with the 

 middle ear. It proved to be an abscess. Being 

 already so reduced by the first attach, he was 

 unable to withstand the second, and died after 

 an illness of nearly three weeks, completely 

 exhausted by his prolonged sufferings. Three 

 days before his death the abscess discharged 

 its contents by the left nostril. The quantity of 

 pus formed was about 2J ounces [78 grams]. 



" In all about 250 larva?, were taken away 

 from him during the first attack, and, as the 

 visible results, not only had they cut the hole 

 through the soft palate, but had also eaten the 

 cartilage of the septum of the nose so nearly 

 through as to give him the appearance of 

 having a broken nose. The case occupied, from 

 the first invasion of the fly to its final result, 

 nearly two months. He doubtless would have 

 recovered but for the formation of the abscess, 

 which, from all the symptoms, was caused by 

 one or more of the larva? "having found their 

 way up the left eustachian tube. " 



" Dr. Richardson also quotes the Rev- Wil- 

 liam Dixon, of Green, Clay Co., Kansas, as 

 giving the following account of his own expe- 

 rience : 



" While riding in his buggy a few years ago 

 in Texas, a screw fly attacked him flying up 

 one nostril. He blew it out when it dashed up 

 the other and deposited its eggs before he was 

 able to expel it - Not realizing the danger he 

 did nothing for about three days, when the 

 pain became so great that he hastened to 

 Austin to consult a physician. His soft palate 

 was almost destroyed before the larva?, over 

 200 in number, were expelled. " This was the 

 only one of twelve cases known to Dr. Richard- 

 son in which the patient recovered. " 



M. DIONNES' «LES OISEAUX DU 

 CANADA. 



Dear Sir, — I cannot but think that in the 

 notice of the above named book, which was 

 published in the June number of this maga- 

 zine, the reviewer has been more generous to 

 the author than just to the Canadian students 

 of ornithology. It is not quite fair to allow it 

 to be thought that we know so little about our 

 birds that we can not form a correct estimate 

 of such a book, and, while the reviewer has 



