282 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



fatal termination, and it requires a certain number of parasites, from 

 twenty to thirty couples for adult, and from five to ten for young pheas- 

 ants. In these cases the disease is cured in spite of, and not uecause 

 of, a certain mode of treatment. 



One of the most rational methods of treatment has been pointed out 

 by Montagu, who did not stop with the common method above men- 

 tioned, but who obtained much success with the following means com- 

 bined: Xiemoval from the infected places, complete replacement of the 

 former aliments by new ones, in which hemp-seed and fresh grass figure 

 prominently ; finally, for drink, an infusion of rue (ruta) and garlic, in- 

 stead of ordinary water. 



The efficacy of the garlic was demonstrated to us under the following 

 circumstances : The pheasautry in the forest of Fontainebleau was laid 

 waste by the gapes in 1877 and 1878. This malady, which we studied 

 on the site of its activity, was arrested and completely driven out by 

 feeding the pheasants with a mixture consisting of hard-boiled eggs, 

 boiled beefs heart, the crumbs of stale bread, and salad. These ingredi- 

 ents were chopped, pounded, and thoroughly mixed so as to make a paste. 

 To this paste was added pounded garlic in the proportion of one clove or 

 bulb to ten pheasants each day, the garlic being thoroughly distributed 

 through the paste. This mixture was relished very much. Great care 

 was bestowed upon the drinking vessels ; the very pure water used was 

 renewed twice a day. The same treatment was successful in the sev- 

 eral inclosures belonging to the country-seats in the neighborhood of 

 Fontainebleau and Melun. A large number of correspondents to whom 

 we suggested it were fully satisfied in having applied it. We also 

 learned that the pheasants occasionally refused the garlic, and one of 

 our correspondents informed us that he had succeeded in making them 

 take it by preparing a real garlic salad; for he had accidentally ob- 

 served how the animals which had refused the garlic paste cast them- 

 selves voraciously upon a garlic salad which was not intended for them. 



We can readily explain the virtue of garlic, known from time imme- 

 morial as an excellent anthelmintic, as it is volatile and is eliminated by 

 the respiratory passages, reaching, in this way, the trachea, where the 

 syngames are lodged. The proof that the essential and volatile prin- 

 ciples of garlic are eliminated by the lungs is daily furnished by those 

 persons who, like the inhabitants of the south of France, are fond of 

 this condiment. The odor of their breath betrays them immediately. 



Besides garlic, we have experimented with another substance, which, 

 like the former, has the advantage of being a strong-smelling vermifuge 

 and more stupefying than ether (which might also be employed), prop- 

 erties which enhance its parasiticide powers. We refer to assafcetida, 

 which we have used as a powder with an equal part of yellow pulver- 

 ized gentian, mixed with the paste which is fed to the pheasants, in the 

 proportion of 50 centigrams (about 7£ grains) per head each day. As 

 a complement to this treatment we have added to each liter (or 

 quart) of drinking water the following solution: Salicylic acid, 1 gram 

 (about 15J grains) ; distilled water, 100 grams (about 3 J fluid ounces). 



The use of the salicylic acid, the toxic power of which upon the em- 

 bryos of syngames we have recognized experimentally, had for its sole 

 object the destruction of those embryos which might be present in the 

 drinking water of the young pheasants. 



This treatment we have employed in the parks of Baron Kothschild, 

 at liambouillet, which were ravaged by the gapes in a manner so dis- 

 astrous that up to 1,200 young pheasants were found dead each morn- 



