212 
The Aberystwyth Area 
are favourable. There still remain, however, a considerable number of 
men who either pierce the skull at the softened area with a hot wire, 
or stab it with a pen knife or similar weapon; subsequently dressing 
the wound with tar. I have seen several complete recoveries after this 
rough treatment. Some others either kill very severe cases or simply 
allow the animal to die, and it is these men who perpetuate the disease 
and largely undo the good accomplished by those who systematically 
practise extraction. 
Some strange ideas still exist in the mountains regarding the origin 
of gid. Sheep suffering from this disease almost invariably gravitate 
to the lowest levels, and then are not infrequently drowned in the streams 
that occupy the valley bottoms. I have been informed that the disease 
originates through certain sheep persistently grazing by the side of 
running water; the giddiness resulting from the brain being affected by 
the sound of the ever-flowing streams. A certain number of cases also 
called bendro locally are undoubtedly due to other causes, such as a 
blow on the head, but many such are recognised by the shepherds. 
Still it is possible that, one or two such may have become included in my 
data, although precautionary questions were always asked. 
One very significant, fact remains. It null be noted that a consider¬ 
ably larger proportion of cases have been reported from the centre of 
the Area, These are the regions most hunted by the Gogerddan pack 
of foxhounds and in which the hound puppies are chiefly “walked.” 
Since dogs are the distributors of gid, any increase in their numbers 
must tend to have an adverse effect, especially when these range widely 
over the country. It. has been experimentally proved 1 that strong 
jawed dogs are the most active agent in spreading gid, owing to their 
greater ability to crack open the skulls of dead sheep and so become 
infected with the tape worm. The young hound is among the strongest, 
jawed dogs of the Area, and I have met them on the mountains far from 
the farms where they were being reared. A number of cases of Gid in 
young cattle have been reported to me, practically all from sheep walks 
(as has already been mentioned) but despite my very numerous visits 
to these farms, I have not personally seen a case. 
1 M. C. Hall, “Methods for the Eradication of Gid,” U.S. Bureau of Animal Industry. 
Circular 165. 1910. 
