FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS. 
167 
diseased state of the spinal cord, by which the supply of 
nervous force to the parts was curtailed, for it is well 
known that to destroy a nerve all sensation is destroyed 
with it. 
The small quantity of soft feculent matter (a small hand¬ 
ful) which I removed from the rectum was broken down by 
the action of the enemata alone, as the dung-balls were hard 
close up to the obstruction. 
Facts and Observations, 
Parasitic Disease of Poultry transmissible to 
Man and Animals. —Our readers are aware that from time 
to time the pages of the Veterinarian have contained accounts 
of skin disease in the horse, produced by near location to poul- 
tiy-houses andhen-roosts, and that it had been ascertained that 
this affection was due to parasites which found their way from 
the birds to the horse. It was, however, a matter of con¬ 
jecture as to whether lice or acari were the real cause of the 
malady. Poultry, as is well known, are often affected with 
lice to a very great extent, and frequently also with acari; 
but it is not so generally known that no less than four 
varieties of lice attack these birds, and that one of them in 
particular—the Menopon pallidum —possesses remarkable 
migratory habits. From this cause, many authors inferred 
that it was this louse which gave origin to the disease of the 
skin of the horse, while others were of opinion that it de¬ 
pended upon the ordinary acarus of poultry. Investigations 
into the subject have recently been made in France, by 
Professor J. lieynal, of the Alfort Veterinary School, and Dr. 
Lanquetin, who seem to have satisfactorily proved that 
neither Menopon pallidum nor any other louse, nor the 
common acarus, is the cause of the malady ; but that it is 
due to a special acarus, one which was discovered by M. 
Ch. Robin, and named by him Sarceptes mutans. This acarus, 
it appears, burrows in the scarf skin of poultry, attacking 
chiefly at the commencement the comb, the legs, and the 
upper part of the beak, where it produces an allied disease 
to scabies of man. In time the parasites extend to other 
parts of the body, and the entire skin of the bird becomes 
