WORMS IN SHEEP.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 4077, 21 February 1894, Page 3

WORMS IN SHEEP.

The "Wanganui Chronicle" contains a report of a lecture by Mr Robertson on worms in sheep, in which he said :— Different kinds of tape worm, the whip worm, the barber's pole worm, and the lung worm were found in sheep, sometimes all of them in the one sheep. Worms were found in four places, the lungs, the duodenum, the fourth stomach, and the small intestine. The lecturer did not think that any one drench could deal with all these parasites. The lung worm was first dilated upon, its course into the system traced, and its effects upon its hosts described. He was pronounced to be not such a bad fellow, because he caused the sheep to fatten by exciting the digestive secretions. No drench seems to affect the germs or embryos. Giving or allowing the flesh of diseased sheep to be given to flesh-eating animals was deprecated as tending to disseminate the pests. The exhausting effect of tape or intestinal worms was asserted to have been combatted by the fattening and strengthening action of the lung worm in one instance. The life history of the intestinal worm was described at length. It was the only worm that could be reached by drenching. Mr Catenby spoke pointedly as to the noneffect of various powerful drugs made up by him, and, while confessing that he feared that drugs would fail in all cases, said that farmers would have to look to their pastures. The lecturer narrated his experience with diseased sheep when using a drench, the course of which was plainly traced through the animal. The beneficial effect of some drenches upon the tape worm were stated to be ineffectual for smaller worms of other kinds. These, feeding upon the fat of the animal, were not affected by the poison of drenches, which poison is not absorbed by the fat, and therefore not eaten up by the animal. The barber's pole parasite and its habits were next described. The lung worm was yet under consideration, and the lecturer only took his audience as far as he had gone himself. Arsenical poisoning strong enough to kill the sheep had proved useless for killing lung worm. The sheep died, the lung worm remained alive. The source of infection was taken to be the coughed-up eggs, thrown upon the pastures. These, when dried, could be blown about by the breath, and hence could be easily absorbed again by sheep. Fumigation had been but little tried, and that little had been fatal to the sheep experimented on. Nevertheless fumigation was the remedy from which the lecturer had most hopes of a cure for lung worm.