THE POULTRY ROOK. 
327 
general attention to the mode of checking its ravages, I have ventured to make it 
the subject of a special communication. 
“ My attention was recently directed to a small, diseased, almost featherless 
chicken, which I at once recognized as suffering from the (japca. The bird 
belonged to a brood consisting of eleven individuals, all of which were between six 
and seven weeks old. The ten healthy birds had individually attained a consider- 
able size, an average example weighing 9| ounces ; but the infested chicken had 
only acquired a weight of 4 ounces, in consequence of tlie deteriorating influences 
of impeded respiration. The strange habits of the chicken \vere also in keeping 
with its physical peculiarities. It held itself entirely aloof from the other members 
of the brood ; and, as if to make up for its defective assimilating powers, tried to 
add to its substance by greedily devouring everything which came in its way, thus 
consuming fully two or three times as much as any other member of the brood. 
The only interruption to its constant eating during the day arose from the act 
of gaping, which took place at irregular intervals, sometimes as often as once 
every minute. The extension of the neck, and consequent elongation of the 
trachea, seems to have the effect of separating or unfolding the knot of enclosed 
parasites — sufficiently, at least, to allow of a certain degree of expiration and 
inspiration, 
“ Having obtained possession of the fowl, I operated upon it in the following 
manner : A very small portion of carded wool having been dipped in chloroform and 
placed in front of the bird’s nostrils, it was soon rendered perfectly insensible. 
The skin of the neck was then divided, and the trachea slit up to the extent of 
about a quarter of an inch ; and, introducing one prong of a pair of common dissect- 
ing forceps, I removed seven Sclerostomata. Six of these parasites were united in 
pairs, the odd worm being a female from which the mate had in all likelihood been 
rudely torn during the withdrawal of the forceps ; and, if so, it escaped my 
observation. After I had closed the external wound in the skin with a single 
thread, the bird was permitted to wake out of its artificial sleep ; and, notwith- 
standing that it had parted with a drop or two of blood, it soon recovered its legs, 
and ran about the table as vigorously as ever. Moreover, as if this were not 
enough to satisfy me as to its almost instantaneous cure, in a very few minutes 
afterwards it demolished the contents of a saucer partly filled with bread previously 
steeped in milk. An occasional gape was caused by an accumulation of frothy 
mucus within the injured trachea ; but this obstruction the bird soon got rid of by 
a few shakes of the head, attended with sneezing. The only subsequent incon- 
venience to the bird arose from emphysematous distention of the cellular tissue of 
the head and neck. This was on two or three occasions relieved by a slight 
puncture of the extremely thin integument, the emphysema ceasing to form after 
the external wound had healed. This chicken was well fed, and rapidly attained 
the size of an ordinary full-grown pullet. I have since caused it to be 
killed ; and on dissecting the neck, although there was no scar externally, 
a distinct cicatrix indicates the site of the operation on the trachea — the divided 
