The Natural History of Parasites. 
605 
bear immediately upon the worms. Some persons attribute tbe effi- 
cacy of sulphate of ii'on to the circumstance that these creatures 
have no iron in their blood or circulating fluid. Whether this be 
the correct explanation he could not say ; but he mentioned it simply 
as a notion that is floating in the brains of some persons on the sub- 
ject. Sulphate of iron, however, should not be administered to the 
animals on the same day as the salt. The salt may be given to the 
extent of a quarter or half an oimce at a time, but the fai-mer should 
not go beyond a quarter of an ounce per day in its continuous use. 
Salt and sulphate of iron may be given with the food on alternate 
days. Half a di-achm of the latter is a full dose even for a large 
sheep. The daily and long-continued use in this manner of sulphate 
of iron and salt will be found to be a most efficient means of getting 
rid of the trichocephali. The efficacy of the agents will be observed 
if the fteculent matter of the sheep is watched ; these worms will 
then be seen to come away rolled up in little masses As soon as 
they get notice to quit they congi-egate together, twist themselves up 
into balls, and in that form are expelled fi'om the system. 
A New Wokm. 
He would next make a few remarks upon a worm only recently brought 
under his observation, which if not new to us in this coimtry, is at any 
rate an undescribed variety of the filaria. The filaria hamaia. His 
attention was first directed to it in the year 1858. A gentleman who 
was accustomed to breed some of the finest quality of Southdown sheep, 
and to rear his ram lambs for the purposes of stock, found in that 
year that, although he took every possible care of the lambs, they 
nevertheless wasted away in condition imtil they died. Various 
changes were made in their feeding, but all without avail ; and at 
length he was asked to go down and investigate the cause of this state 
of things. The lambs had given no evidence of any particular disease, 
but were continuously wasting away ; their appetites were good, their 
secretions and excretions natural, and they had no cough nor any 
symptoms of disease of any particular organ of the body. The owner, 
an intelligent man, had opened some of them, yet could find nothing 
amiss; the intestines, the heart, and the lungs were apparently — so 
far as he could discern — healthy, and quite free from disease. 
On his arrival at the farm he saw among 25 or 30 of these lanibs, some 
6 or 7 which were evidently in the last stage of the affection ; but on the 
most careful examination he could then give them he failed to detect 
the existence of any kind of disease. It was suggested that one of 
them should be killed, and a post-mortem examination made. This was 
done ; still there were no traces of an organic disease to be seen. 
At first he was somewhat puzzled, when, as he had long held the 
opinion that a good many diseases are exclusively and entirely due to 
entozoa, the thought struck him that it was not improbable that para- 
sites might be found in the intestines. These were accordingly opened, 
in the expectation that trichocephali might be found there, but not one 
could be seen. He then opened the stomachs, of which ruminating 
animals have fom-, though one only is the true digestive organ, and 
