252 
POULTRY LOUSINESS. 
lumps of decayed cheese, swarming with mites. (I trust this 
observation may not prejudice the table, or prevent any gen- 
tleman indulging in his fondness for cheese in that state : it has 
not at all interfered with my partiality for mitey cheese.) This 
secret being discovered, the nuisance was immediately removed, 
the stable being well cleaned out, and the horses thus freed from 
their annoying companions. The man who looked after the 
horses now told us that he had been frequently annoyed by the in- 
sect which he supposed to be “a louse,” and that the apprehension 
of being called “ lousy” made him unwilling to disclose the fact 
before. Since the above, I have not met with more than two 
or three cases of the kind ; but be assured, my first inquiry in 
each was, “ where is your hen-house I” At the remote period 
in which the above cases occurred, I was a very young man in 
practice, and had very little time (however I might have been 
inclined) to dip deeply into philosophical investigations. Had 
these cases occurred in the present age of advanced scientific 
research, the affair would have received a much more strict in- 
quiry, and would, probably, have revealed facts highly bene- 
ficial to our science. In closing this narrative, let me whisper 
one word to my young friends, — “ Never turn a deaf ear to the 
observations of old age” Had I done so, or considered it be- 
neath me to attend to what may at the time have been thought 
the impertinence of a stupid old coachman, I might to this day 
have enjoyed my ignorance, and would consequently have been 
unable to avail myself of this opportunity of adding my testi- 
mony in support (if I may presume so much) of the exceedingly 
clear and well- written account of Mons. H. Bouley. 
While on the subject, I shall trespass further on your pages, 
and relate a somewhat similar result arising from a different 
cause. 
A short time after the above occurred, a Persian goat was 
sent over from India, as a present to the late Marquis of Staf- 
ford. The ship, an East Indiaman of a large class, was 
wrecked on our own coast, and but very few of the passengers 
escaped with life. By some means or other this goat, however, 
was saved, and sent to the Marquis’s mansion in London. The 
family being in Scotland at the time, there was only a porter 
left in town. I was sent for to examine the state of the animal 
on his arrival, and found him with a staring unhealthy coat, in 
a very attenuated state of condition. I desired the man to keep 
it in one of the coach-houses, and to take care that it had a good 
supply of nutritious food. It soon appearing to improve, I took 
no further notice of it. The family came to town about two 
months after. In a few days I was again sent for, and found that 
all the horses, about fourteen or fifteen in number, were in a state 
