Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-30
The DOGS
<A@ alleged Indian Superstition Which Ia
Both Old and Absurd.

Both Old and Absurd.
"A correspondent from Washington
makes a statement (said to have been
obtained from an Indian chief which,
gaining wide publicity, may be the in-
olrcct cause of much needless cruelty
to that most faithful of our domestic
PETS the dog, by melting overcareful
persons or idle experimcntalists to un%
oertake the removal of the supposed
worm from beneath the tongue of
our sempcr fidelis canine friends. This
Indian ventured the information to the
correspondent that under the tonene
OF every dog there is a worm situated,
which ordinarily does no harm, but if
the animal be placed under favorable
conditions will be the cause of pro-
duclng rabies OF hydroplobia. If the
worm be cut out the disease will
never be produced spontaneously in the
dog, neither will he contract the dis
ease from the bite of a rabid animal,
this man claims.
That this senseless idea does not
originate with the chief, or his tribe of
aborlginals, is evident from the fact of
the very general knowledge of the
practice in different parts of the globe.
George Fleming, q noted English
veterinarian, in his work on hpdropho-
biz, says that the poet Gratius Faliscus,
OF the first century of our era, speaks
OF the fable of the worm in the dogs
tongue being the cause of the disorder,
and that Pliny, in the same century.
writes: ''lf the 'lytta.' OF small worm,
be removed from a dogs tongue, he
will never become mad or lose his ap-
petite and eff the worm be carried
thrice around a fire and given to a per-
sol who has been bitten by a mad dog
it will prevent his going mad" .
In opposition to this worse than usa-
less practice | can make no stronger
argument than quote from Fleming's
"Rabies and Hydrophobia," London,
1872: '.This removal of the worm from
the dogs tongue, Or 'worming,' as it is
popularity termed, has been practiced
from the day of Pliny to our own time,
and is, as might be expected, a per.
fectly useless, nay, injurious and pain
full operation. Beneath the organ, in
the middle, is a somewhat loose, ten
dinous looking fold of membrane,
which constitutes what, in technical
language, is called the .frenum,' or
bride of the tongue, and is designed to
assist the animal in tapping. When in
its ordinary relaxed condition this
tr@num looks like Il small worm, and
the resemblance is perhaps even more
complete when it has been torn out;
hence the name of the operation, which
is a cruel n and gives the poor dog a
very sore mouth for several days, in
addition to redering the tongue less
capable of performing its important
functions. The supposition that this
procedure will prevent q dog from be-
coming spontaneously rabid, OF liable
to infection if bitten, is excessively
absurd, us the presence of the imagin-
airy worm has no influence whatever in
the production of the malady, while its
absence must be a source of incon-
venience to the dog, and far more
likely to induce rabies than to prevent
its occurrence. The operators justly
deserve the punishment which will be
awarded them should they come within
the co%gnizance of the Royal Society fol-
the prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
DIR. Samuel johnson, who was never al
a loss for a definition, when abiding ia
the opinion prevalent in mis- time with
regard to this worm, called it "a sub.
stance, nobody knows what, extracted,
nobody knows why::'"-Cor. 81. Louis
G}OJe- npO1ncrnf