accept as a settled fact, and also any description of the way in which the
parasitic worms attach themselves to the throats of the birds, and cause
the peculiar gaping of the mouth which gives the name to the disease.

Many remedies have been suggested, and my object now is to communicate some
of the later ones--thus to give a variety of methods, so that in case of
the failure of one, another will be at hand ready to be tried. It is a
mistake always to pin the faith to one remedy, for the varying conditions
found in fowls compel a different treatment. The old plan of dislodging the
worms with a feather is well known, and need not be described again. But I
may mention that in this country some have found the use of an ointment,
first suggested by Mr. Lewis Wright, I believe, most valuable. This is made
of mercurial ointment, two parts; pure lard, two parts; flour of sulphur,
one part; crude petroleum, one part--and when mixed together is applied to
the heads of the chicks as soon as they are dry after hatching. Many have
testified that they have never found this to fail as a preventive, and if
the success is to be attributed to the ointment, it would seem as if the
insects are driven off by its presence, for the application to the heads
merely would not kill the eggs.

Some time ago Lord Walsingham offered, through the Entomological Society of
London, a prize for the best life history of the gapes disease, and this
has been won by the eminent French scientist M. Pierre Mégnin, whose essay
has been published by the noble donor. His offer was in the interest of
pheasant breeders, but the benefit is not confined to that variety of game
alone, for it is equally applicable to all gallinaceous birds troubled with
this disease. The pamphlet in question is a very valuable work, and gives
very clearly the methods by which the parasite develops. But for our
purpose it will be sufficient to narrate what M. Mégnin recommends for the
cure of it. These are various, as will be seen, and comprise the experience