The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-10-21
GIRL SCIENTIST
MAKES A DISCOVERY.
No Longer May the Chicken "Pip'
Parasite Pursue His Work in
Security.
SPECIAL.

REPUBLIC SPECIAL.
Syracuse, n. Y, Oct. el.-For ways that
are dark the chicken pip parasite has
held the record for a long time. Poultry
raisers for years have labored In vain to
discover the cause Of the disease that laid
some of their finest feathered products low.
Now Miss Grace Norris appears on the
Scene and says she has found the tiny but
wicked little worm. and many raisers of
chickens rise UP and call her blessed.
Miss Norris is a second-year student in
the Syracuse Medical College. where she
has distinguished herself by her work in
biology and her skill in analytical dissec-
ton.
Il always liked fowls and animals says
Miss Norris. II lived on a farm part of
each year. and they were my chief compan-
ions. One winter. when ! was u child, /
trained a pair Of geese TO draw my hand
sled. They drove well together, and was
the envy of the neighborhood.
II also had a collection OF field mice.
which / caught one by one by chasing
them in the fields and putting my foot down
my hands. kept them In a box in the
barn and fed them there. and / got very
much attached to them.
'One cold night i was afraid they would
freeze In the barn. and 1 got up after the
family had gone TO bed and brought the box
into the kitchen; There were forty OF the
mice, and in the morning there wasn't
anything left to eat In the house. They
had got into the pantry and cleaned every
thing up. Tn next day grandma set traps
them. ] daren't confess to her about them,
81 never knew them to come in such
swarms before said grandma. as she
drowned my mice.
Last spring l spen. my vacation on a
farm at Richfieid Springs. where large
numbers OF fowls were raised. I noticed
that some of the young chickens. turkeys
and goslings would open their mouths, gasp
for breath and at the end of a few days
die. apparently from lack OF air. Prac-
ticaliy this was all the chicken farmers
knew about IT.
For the next four months i did nothing
but study and experiment with the disease.
The results of the investigation showed a
parasite hitherto unknown. 1t is bright
pink in color. about n half inch long and
twisted In shape. II has an appendage near
one end. which gives II a forked appear
ance like the letter Y. This appendage
brane Of the chickens trachea. forming in
masses, which close the air passage and
cause death.
1.-The worm. or parasite. Is pointed at the
single end. where the mouth Is located.
When II has reached maturity the parasite.
which I have named Habita trachena,
drops to the ground, deposits its ova and
dies. The fowls. by scratching In the soil.
cause these eggs to float in the air; they
are breathed into the trachea, and the cy-
Gle Of generation begins anew.
Il found an average OF twenty parasites
in each fowl I examined.
Authorities have never agreed as to the
cause of the disease. and a successful rem
edy has therefore never been found. A
hooked wire apparatus IL frequently used.
The wire is run down the trachea. but.
since this method nearly always kills the
fowl. IL can't be called successful.
In my experiments the only effective
treatment was To prevent the disease 10y
keeping the fowls on fresh soil. where poul-
try had never been kept before. OF course,
there were no eggs to be inhaled and they
did not contract the disease"