Part 105
_The brandling worm_ is streaked from head to tail in alternate red and yellow circles; is dark at the head; becomes gradually paler towards the tail. Brandlings are found in old dunghills which consist of hogs’ and horses’ dung and rotten earth; also in old thatch and dung; in grass mown from garden walks after it has lain some time: but those which are found in tanners’ bark, after being used and laid by until quite rotten, are the best, and may generally be used without any scouring. When brandlings are kept in mosses like the lob-worm, they should be fed by dropping a little cream, about a spoonful a day, upon the moss; it will prevent their swelling at the knot near their middle, which, when it takes place, usually kills them. With some anglers it is a rule not to use these worms and the gilt tail until they have been in moss two days, nor after they have continued in it more than ten.
The short _white worms_ or _bobs_ are of two sorts: the one found in mellow, heathy, sandy soils, and is easily gathered by following the plough in autumn, when such ground is first broken up from grazing; also by digging one spot deep in the above described lands sufficient may be got. Those of this class are called the earth bob, white grub, or white bait, and are as big again as a gentle; have a pale red head, very soft all over, are yellowish at the tail, and their bodies when taken in some degree resemble the colour of the earth where found in, but when scoured are of a pale white. They are an excellent winter bait, and to preserve them they should be put into a large earthen pot with some of its own earth, with dryish moss at the top, and set in a warm place.
Dunghill red worms are small and knotted, of a bright red, and are to be found almost in every heap of horsedung that has much straw rotted in it. Cowdung red worms are found in the fields, and in nearly dry flakes of dung; their heads are shining dark brown, with flat tails, are good baits, and may occasionally be used when taken, but are best scoured and preserved, like other worms.
The dock or flag-worm is of the colour of a gentle, when scoured, but is longer and slenderer in his make, with rows of feet down his belly, and a red head. They are found by pulling up the flags growing round an old pond or pit, shaking the roots in the water, and when free from dirt, amongst the fibres that spread from the roots, will be seen little husks of a reddish or yellowish colour; these must be opened very cautiously with a pin, and the worm either used immediately, or dropt into some bran to carry them, where they may be preserved in the same manner as the cad-bait; they sometimes insinuate themselves into the body of the round stalk of the flag.
The long dock-worms are of a fine pale red, without knots; are chiefly found in moist places, near dock-roots, and are best taken by shaking the earth with a dung-fork. They are excellent baits, especially for carp and tench. In the hollow parts near the roots of the largest sort of sedges, may be found a large black-headed grub, about an inch long, and which is not to be found in any other place; it is a famous bait for pond-fishing, though extremely tender; but by putting them into boiling milk for about two minutes, the morning you mean to use them, they will be rendered tougher.
Gilt-tails are paler and larger than the last-mentioned worms; are knotted like them, are of a pale yellow, especially towards the tail.
The marsh-worms are middle-sized and knotted; are of a bluish cast and tender; are to be found in the rich banks of rivers, and in marshy ground, wherein they are usually got by treading the ground when it is moist, much backwards and forwards, or in circles, with both feet close together; they require more scouring in moss than most other worms, at least fifteen days, but are very lively good baits.
White or marl worms are found chiefly in marl or clay land by following the plough, and also in turnip fields, where the soil is of a stiffish quality; the head is very small, and of a pale red; they are larger than the brandling, and naturally tough, are a good bait, especially in muddy water; may be preserved in some of their own earth, keeping it properly damp; with some moss at top, and when scoured are of a pale white.
The red worm is found in all loamy soils; may be collected by following a plough, turning up garden soil, and under boards, bricks, slates, tiles, stones, &c. that have lain undisturbed for any time: these four worms may be preserved together in one pot, and when the brandling or others are meant to be used, let the angler, the evening before, pick them out by themselves, and put them into a bag, with moss moistened with sweet thinnish cream, and they will appear more bright and tempting to the fish.
The tag-tail is a worm of a pale flesh-colour, with a yellow tag, almost half an inch long: it is found in marled land or meadows, after a shower, or in the morning, in calm and not cold weather in March and April. In discoloured water by rain, it is considered a fatal bait for trout. They will not endure long scouring.
A three-prong dung-fork thrust into the ground, and continually moving it, will force all the worms within a certain distance to come instantly out of their holes; supposing, from the shaking of the earth, it is the mole’s heaving to come at them.
Get a parcel of cow or horse-hair, and cut it five or six inches long, into a pan; throw the worms upon it, and in a couple of hours they will have cleared themselves from the chief of their dirt; take them from amongst the hair, observing that none of it sticks to them, and selecting out the dead or wounded worms; clean the pan from the hair and filth, and put the worms into it, covering them with garden mould, about an inch thick: they will keep a very long time in this manner, moistening it once a day with new milk, and changing it every month, to prevent the growth of young worms, which would occasion the death and decay of the old.
Amongst the old recipes for scouring worms, the putting them into a powder got from a dead man’s skull, by beating it to atoms, was deemed super-excellent.
When worms are wanted for immediate use, and no provision has been made, the way to scour them quickly, is, if lob-worms, to put them all night in water; brandlings must not remain above one hour in it, and both sorts must be then put with fennel into the angler’s worm-bag.
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Worms of different kinds inhabit the intestines; but except when they exist in very great numbers, they are not so hurtful as is generally supposed, although the groom or carter may trace to them hidebound, and cough, and loss of appetite, and gripes, and megrims, and a variety of other ailments. Of the origin or mode of propagation of these parasitical animals we will say nothing; neither writers on medicine, nor even on natural history, have given us any satisfactory account of the matter.
The long white worm (_lumbricus teres_) much resembling the common earth-worm, and, being from six to ten inches long, inhabits the small intestines. It is a formidable looking animal, and if there are many of them, they may consume more than can be spared of the nutritive part of the food, or the mucus of the bowels; and we think that we have seen a tight skin, and rough coat, and tucked up belly, connected with their presence. They have then, however, been voided in large quantities, and when they are not thus voided, we should be disposed to trace these appearances to other causes. A dose of physic will sometimes bring away almost incredible quantities of them. Calomel is frequently given as a vermifuge. The seldomer this drug is administered to the horse the better. It is the principal ingredient in some quack medicines for the expulsion of worms in the human subject, and thence, perhaps, it came to be used for the horse; but in him we believe it to be inert as a vermifuge, or only useful as quickening the operation of the aloes. When the horse can be spared, a strong dose of physic is an excellent vermifuge, so far as the long round worm is concerned; but perhaps a better medicine, and not interfering with either the feeding or work of the horse, is two drachms of emetic tartar, with a scruple of ginger, made into a ball, with linseed meal and treacle, and given every morning half an hour before the horse is fed.
A smaller, darker coloured worm, called the needle worm, or _ascaris_, inhabits the large intestines. Hundreds of them sometimes descend into the rectum, and immense quantities have been found in the cœcum. These are a more serious nuisance than the former, for they cause a very troublesome irritation about the fundament, which sometimes sadly annoys the horse. Their existence can generally be discovered by a small portion of mucus, which hardening, is converted into a powder, and is found about the anus. Physic will sometimes bring away great numbers of these worms; but when there is much irritation about the tail, and much of this mucus, indicating that they have descended into the rectum, an injection of a quart of linseed oil, or of an ounce of aloes dissolved in warm water, will be a more effectual remedy.
The tape worm is seldom found in the horse.
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Worms are most commonly found in the bowels and stomach; but they are sometimes met with also in almost every part of the body. The worms commonly found in the stomach are named botts. They are generally attached to the cuticular or insensible coat of the stomach; but sometimes clusters of them are found at the pylorus, and even in the beginning of the first intestine, named duodenum. In one case they were so numerous in this last situation as to obstruct the passage completely, and cause the animal’s death. Botts are short thick reddish worms, surrounded with short prickles, which are arranged in circular bands all over the body. They attach themselves firmly by two hooks, which they appear to have the power of straightening and retracting, of projecting and curvating. They are extremely tenacious of life, and difficult to be expelled from the stomach, except about the month of September, or when a horse is taken up from grass. At this period they may generally be got rid of by brine, or a solution of common salt in water, in a dose of from four to five ounces of salt to a quart of water. The horse should be kept fasting the night before it is given; and about five minutes before the drench with salt is given, let the horse be drenched with about a pint of warm milk, sweetened with honey or treacle.
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Mercurial physic seems to be generally considered the most effectual, especially when a little calomel is given for two or three successive nights, and followed up by a dose of physic. I have seen small doses of aloes given daily, about two drachms, with good effect. Oil of turpentine is a powerful vermifuge, if given after some hours’ fasting, and when the bowels have been brought into a lax state by giving bran mashes for two or three days, or a small dose (about three drachms) of aloes the day before.
This previous fasting, as well as keeping the horse without food two hours after, is necessary to the success of this remedy. In a few instances, oil of turpentine has produced alarming symptoms; and in one case, where a horse had taken a mild dose of physic the day before, it brought on almost immediately a fatal inflammation of the stomach and bowels. On the other hand, a great number of cases have been reported to me in which it has been given with the best effect. I should be inclined, however, to try the mercurial purgative first; but even this, in the horse, is attended with some danger, unless he is managed judiciously before, and during its operation. The third remedy is of a milder nature, but often, I believe, inert; that is, bitter vegetables, such as rue, box, savine, &c., which are chopped up and given with the horse’s corn. Ethiop’s mineral, levigated antimony, emetic tartar, very small doses of arsenic and calomel, have each of them sometimes succeeded. But, whatever worm medicine is given, the horse should be kept without food for several hours, or the whole night before, and two hours after. Chopped horse-hair has been given with success, and brine, or a solution of common salt. In one case, a great number of worms were discharged by fasting the horse during the night, and giving him a malt mash in the morning. Another method is to keep the horse without food during the night, and give him in the morning a quart of new milk sweetened with honey, and about ten minutes after, four, five, or six ounces of salt in a quart of water. A run at grass in the spring is, perhaps, the best remedy of all, for it is the most effectual means of invigorating the digestive organs, and purifying the blood. When it is not convenient to turn the horse out, he should be soiled in the stable with vetches. The most certain indication of worms, except that of their being discharged with the horse’s dung, is a yellowish or brimstone-coloured stain under the fundament. Sometimes worms produce symptoms of an unusual kind, as in the following case:—A horse was observed for some time to fall off in flesh and become weak, and, upon attempting to mount him, he shrunk and gave way in the back, as if he had received some severe injury in that part; they gave him, however, a dose of mercurial physic, which brought off a lump of worms and viscid mucus as large as a man’s fist. After this the horse was perfectly free from pain in the back, and quickly recovered his flesh and strength. I have heard of a horse being cured of worms, when reduced by them to such a degree of weakness that he was thought incurable, by being turned into a field of young vetches. Powdered tin has been recommended for worms, and may be given without danger in a dose of three or four drachms made into a ball with flour and honey. With regard to the short red worms, named botts, so often found in the horse’s stomach, adhering in large clusters, most commonly to the insensible coat, but sometimes to the pylorus, the most likely means of expelling them is to give a drench of salt and water in the manner before prescribed; that is, to keep the horse without food during the night, and in the morning to give him a quart of new milk sweetened with honey; about ten minutes after this drench is down, the drench of salt and water is to be given. This remedy should be employed in September, or soon after a horse is taken from grass. Botts are so often found in the horse’s stomach, that they have been supposed to do no harm; it is certain, however, that they sometimes produce the most serious diseases. They sometimes cause ulceration and sloughing of the stomach, inflammation of the lungs and heart, and frenzy or mad staggers. According to Gibson they sometimes cause locked-jaw. Botts appear to be the larvæ of a fly, and are probably eaten with grass or hay. According to Mr. Bracy Clark, the fly deposits its eggs on the horse’s coat; and, when they are about to be hatched, the horse licks them off, so that they are hatched by the warmth of the mouth and the moisture of the saliva, and then swallowed. Mr. Feron says he has paid particular attention to this subject, and has found that, when in large quantities, they are very destructive to horses; that he has seen several horses whose stomachs had been pierced quite through by them, the botts making their way into the abdomen. He thinks they are taken in with the horse’s forage, whether dry or green, as they are found in horses that have not been at grass for several years, but that they may also be licked in from the horse’s coat. He is of opinion that botts, when once attached to the stomach, may remain there during the horse’s life, and it is only when they become too numerous that they are forced off and discharged by the bowels. Mr. James Clarke relates a case of a horse’s stomach being perforated by botts. I have seen several horses destroyed by botts. In some of them, they caused inflammation of the lungs; in one frenzy, or mad staggers. In one horse the pylorus was completely plugged up with them. There is a remarkable sympathy or consent between the stomach and the lungs, and it is owing to this that they sometimes cause inflammation of the lungs. In the cases which have occurred in my practice, the most remarkable circumstance was the great depression they occasioned, and the inefficacy of copious bleeding. Castor oil seemed to do more good than anything, and Mr. Feron remarks that common oil, given in large quantities, has sometimes succeeded in detaching botts from the stomach; and he adds, it is the only medicine that seems to have any effect in making them lose their hold from the stomach. There is a kind of worm I have often met with since I have practised in Somersetshire, especially at Oakhill, which appears to do a great deal of mischief. When drawn out, they are from one to three or four inches in length, from one to two eighths of an inch in breadth, and scarcely of any thickness; they have numerous transverse lines close to each other, like those of the leach, and adhere firmly to the bowels by one of their extremities. When viewed through a microscope, the transverse lines appear as upright scales applied very near to each other, and inclining, I think, a little forwards; the extremity, by which they adhere to the gut, appears as a bulb with holes in it; the other extremity is square, as if it had been cut off transversely. These worms are generally of a white colour, and sometimes drawn up or contracted so as to appear as a flake of mucus, or fat, of about half an inch in length. I have seen them of a darker colour in horses that were in a state of great poverty, and sometimes reddish, as if containing blood. In many dogs and cats that have been opened at Oakhill, they have been almost invariably found; and they have been discharged, in this village, from the bowels of men and children. They are found both in the small and large bowels, most commonly in the former, and near the part where the ilium terminates in the cœcum. At Easton, near Wells, this worm has been seen swimming in a small stream that runs through the village, from which it is probable that their natural habitation is water, and that they are swallowed while the animal is drinking, and are capable of living in the bowels.
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_Method of worming dogs._—Secure a large dog on his back on a table, bench, or form; one of a middling size may be held in the lap of an assistant; a small one may be conveniently taken into that of the operator. The mouth being held open by means of two pieces of tape—one embracing the part immediately behind the _upper_, and the other that _posterior_ to the lower canine teeth—draw the tongue from the mouth, when, exposing its under surface, a cuticular fold or eminence will present itself, occupying its median line from the point to the base: open this with a lancet through its whole extent, which will expose a minute fibrous cord. Pass a blunt-pointed probe under it, and, carrying the instrument from one end to the other, detach the cord from its adhesions; which done, divide it at one extremity, and carefully drawing it forwards with a tenaculum, divide the other also. The uninitiated in sporting mysteries may smile at all this minuteness of detail, and recommendation of caution, in the _division_ of a _line_ of _skin_, and the _extraction_ of a _thread_ of ligament; but all this is actually necessary to satisfy the prejudices of those who put faith in the operation. For with them it is essential to the prospective benefits of it, not only that the whole of the _worm_ (for which read frænum) should be extracted, but that, if possible, it should be done in one continuous mass.
In the removal of this cord by huntsmen, game-keepers, &c., the violence used in stripping it off, puts its fibrous substance so much on the stretch, that when extracted, its elasticity making it recoil, gives it somewhat the character of the contraction of a dying _worm_; and we may yet read of this appearance, and its general form, being adduced as proofs of its vermicular identity. And although now no informed person gives credence to its being other than a portion of the canine tongue; yet there are many sporting characters of education and ability, who still lend themselves to an opinion that there is some enigmatical property inherent in this part, which renders its retention dangerous, by making the unwormed dog the subject of acute rabies, but the wormed one the subject of the dumb variety. Of a piece with this palpable error was that of Marochetti’s vesicles in the same vicinage; which being also with him the hiding-place of the rabid virus, it became as necessary, according to his doctrine, to destroy them as it was with the ancients (and yet remains with some of the moderns) to remove the _worm_.
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Of these worms which appear indigenous to the intestines of the dog, the _tænia_, or tape worm, from its flat figure, is the most prejudicial, and the most difficult to remove. I have known four or five hundred joints (each a distinct animal) passed by a dog, whose united length would encircle his body many times. Sometimes they become coiled up into a ball, which thus forms an impenetrable obstruction within the intestines, and destroys the dog.
The _teres_, or long cylindrical worms, resembling earthworms in figure, but of a whitish colour, are the most common to dogs; and, when existing in great numbers, particularly in puppies and young ones, sometimes prove fatal by the convulsions they occasion. In distemper they greatly aggravate the symptoms; so much so, that to destroy them frequently cures the dog. The natural situation of these worms is within the intestines, but they sometimes crawl from them into the stomach, and are then brought up by the sickness they occasion.
The _ascarides_, or small thread-worms, likewise occasionally infest dogs, residing principally within the rectum. They produce an intolerable itching behind, to relieve which those troubled with them are seen continually drawing the fundament along the ground. Except by the irritation occasioned, which may weaken when it is excessive, they do not appear to do much internal injury. The constitution of some dogs appears particularly favourable to the generation of worms; for, destroy them as often as you will, they soon return again. Puppies, during every stage of their growth, are very liable to them; in many, the increase of the body appears checked by their ravages.