The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1868-04-13
CHE Intel i9etlter.
no RoTs KIL.L HoRsREe
An interesting AFa1ele for F.,,n.r,
and Horse FancIers.
Nom Ehe T7tior EZ.oIsS

An Interesting Article for Farmers
and Horse FaneIers.
From 1ie Btiea Herald,
The opinion that bots often prove de-
struct1vs to the horse, prevails IL q
4 considerable extent among farmerS II
IS thought they produce death bv eat.
ing through the walls of the stomach.
we nave seen horses dissected that
were supposed to have been Killed bs
pots. The stomach of the animal prs.
scented an lnhamed appearance. and the
coating was entirely eaten through nv
lhe parasite, while mass of bots also
was found in the stomach. We have
5a1 horses taken suddenly sick and
oylng In few hours. Those who ex
9mlned the case pronounced it bots.
we DO not know what the generally "a.
ceiVed opinion Is among Veterinarians
on this subject, but we notice in MI.
SteWart's new work, the American
views from the above are expressed in
regard to the effects created by bots
upon the horse. Mr.. Stewart afRrnR
that he is satisfied from personal inyes-
lgatlon, that the public mind has been
9ntlreiy misled upon the whole subject,
be the ravages of the bot to be
IN reality the work of some inflama-
tory disease. The natural history OF the
pot ne thinks, has never been proper
~ understood. The bot, he claims.
Is hereditary with the horse, and is
born into the world with him, the colt.
at the moment of foaling, having the
little parasite in his stomach, in as per-
feet state as the horse of six years.
The author goes on to state that the bot
Is found attached to the cuticular or in
sensible coating In the upper portion of
the stomach-not by his head as Is
Popularly supposed, but hanging by
his tail. For a month he has a little
orthce, no larger than the point of a
cambria needle, with which he feeds
upon the food in his stomach, after It
mas oeen softened down into chyme.
Ihis tiny mouth he can cl0se against
any substance which offends his dainty
taste; and being protected by aacaly or
pony covering, upon which no acid,
caustlc or poison, will operate, he is
much safer from the action of any
hurtful element than the horse into
whose stomach he iF introduced. There
Is no evidence, says Mr.. Stewart, that
In his normal condition, the bot ever
Injuries the horses health in the least
degree. The bot is pronounced to be
an entirely different insect from the
grub or worm, with which he has no
relationship whatever. The latter is
the offspring of the CAD fly, and is I'M
doubleday, an intruder. It is a species
OF light yellow worm, which passes
away from the horse In the excrements
during the months of July and August,
and becomes tmbedded in the earth
where the chrysalis is formed, whence
In time Is Matched the hy, The eggs of
the fly are deposited upon the horses
SKIN, are bitten of and find their way
into the horses stomach. Here the
worm Is developed in time, and thus
the species continues to be .propagated.
Unlike the bot, the grub never attaches
itself to the coating of the stomach,
but lives among the particles of food,
the tough hbrous portions of which it
decomposes and in both stomach and
bowels undoubtedly performs the same
office for the horse that worms do in
the child. When multiplied in great
numbers the grub may occasion much
uneastnesS and irritation but never
causes death or even serious disease.
AS to the popular belief that the bot
causes the death of the horse by eating
through tho stomach, Mr.. Stewart
says: Although the stomach is often
found "completely riddled by the bot !"
as the popular expression is, there Is
good reason to believe that the work is
done entirely after the horse is "struck
by DEATH" One or two facts will go
far to prove the truth OF n proposition
which to many will appear extraor-
binary.
The cutioular coating of the stomach
to which the bot fastens himself by
means OF two little bearded hooks, is
J nearly II not wholly insensible,
having no more feeling apparently
than the animals hoofs. When the
horse is In health 1t is hard, rigid, inn
penetrab BILE, and the bot, if ever SO much
vain; but when death iseizes him this
coating becomes relaxed and soft and
begins rapidly to decompose. Then
only 1t Is that the bot can or ever does
work his way through 1t. Another
fact still more strongly corrObOrative
kNFA.R akNFNYV
OF any number of horses killed while
in perfect health, and opened an hour
or two afterward, there will be found
not one whose stomach is not "riddlsd
by the bot" Dissection has revealed
the existence of this condition in hun
dreds ofinstances OF sudden death from
accident. 8hlJ
DR.. John franklin, of Sumner coun-
ty, Tennessee, relates the case of a
horse instantly killed by the falling OF
a large timber, whose carcass he open
ed within u few hours after death, with
the especial object of testing the theory
that the bot forces a. passage through
the walls of the stomach IN all cases
when the disease is not of such ma :
ture as to stupefy him. AS he expected
the insects in considerable numbers
had already cut their way out. The
bot does not attack the stomach for the
purpose of preying upon it or ofinjur-
cape from certain death himself. The
same disease that is killing the horse
threatens his destruction also. An in
stinct similar to that which prompts
vermin of nearly all kinds to leave a
dead or dying carcass, teaches him that
his old habitation is no longer a safe
one and hence his desperate endeavors
to get away. He has been found work
ing up to the esophRgus, passing
through the small intestines, and even
cutting through between the ribs al
most to the skin itself. If possible he
would escape from the horse entirely. -
These views are SO different from
those usually held by horsemen that
we give them for the benefit of those
interested in the care and management
of horses. If they be true, the practice
ofdruggfng the horse with medicines
for the purpose of stupefying or arrest.
ing the supposed action of bots Is use
less and injurious.
TIE Berkeley Union !prints the fol-
lowing document received by Senator
Chapline of Jefferson county: