Year: 1868

oots'' and then among the crowd that usual


~ gathers about the troubled horse, there is


one wiser than the rest who knows all about


the nature OF these noble animals and the


diseases to which they are liable. He orders


junk bottle to be filled with a certain med
icne in fluid state. The remedy is soon
procured and this wise doctor of holses Or
ders the Jaws OF the creature to be piled
open and his tongue pulled out. That being
done, the doctor thrusts the neck Of the bot


tie into the horses mouth, and pours the
contents down his throat. Under such treat
ment the poor, struggling animal cannot
swallow very well, and so the doctor passes
his hand from the throat down the neck to
assist in getting the nOstrum into the stom-
ach. Sometimes sweetened milk is thus
poured down to give the worms more dain-
ty food and stop their boring through
the stomach of the horse.


After such dosing the animal dies and Per
haps that day, or the next, apost mortem ex-
aminat on is had, and sure enough, the
worms have bored through the stomach and
made their way to other parts of the body





the wise doctor. "The bots had eaten
through before / was called. A few hours
sooner and the horse might have been saved"


Now every locker ON has no doubt that
these worms killed the horse. But is that so?
May not this horse doctor, his assistants and
the crowd gathered on the occasion, all be
mistaken? The question is an important
one in which owners of horses are deeply in
terested. Is it fact, well established, that
these worms do kill horses? 1t surely would
be wise and prudent to ascertain whether the
bots dc. injure the horse before drenching
him with all kinds of nostrums-all more or
less injurious and absurd. The truth is, we
have not great confidence in all horse doctors
and we are not sure but "The Turf, Field and
Farm" is right on this question. Hear what
this journal says: "For our part we do not
believe that this worm Injuries horse in the
slightest degree, and in this opinion we are
sustained by Youatt, the very highest veter-
mary authority"


This writer also refers discussion among
some artillery officers on this subject, in the
month of March-just before the evacuation
of Centreville. Several dead horses were open
ed, and the stomachs oil all of them were
more or less eaten into and riddled by the
mails died of the bots. A little natural
philosophy may throw some light ON this
subject. Is it not true that the stomach of
the horse is the very place where these eggs
are to be Matched into life? Is it not the
natural habitat of the insect? Does not the
mother instinetively know where to deposit
her nits that they may be conveyed to their
proper place to be Matched into life? Does
she not fasten them upon horses forelegs
and other parts where he can reach
them with his mouth and swallow them?
But it may be asked, why do these worms
thus riddle the stomach OF the horse? An
other question, do they eat the stomach
before or after death? This is an impor-
tant question and one that involves the
point at issue. The writer above alluded ~
says: ''If the horse dies, the worm bores
through the stomach in the attempt to es-
cape from a place no longer suited to its
wants, precisely as rat win abandon fall
ing house or sinking ship. 1t IS preposter-
Gus to suppose that one of Natures noblest
creations should be at the mercy Of so con-
temptible an insect"


Did ever any one see bot-fy lowering
abont dead horse and attempting to deposit
her eGee OF, any Ps-.s s.-0- sessd bvIyf we
no one ever saw such sight. The
mother of the bot knows better than thus to
deposit her eggs. She instinctively knows
that dead stomach is no Matching place for
her eggs. Those eggs can never be hatched
into worms, nor live if they were in the stom-
ach of a dead horse, and the mother fly
knows this better than we do. Insect life is
very interesting study. There is place,
and proper place, for every thing in nature,
and every ''nook and corner of creation are
full of animal life. The home of one kind Of
worm is the tobacco plant, and little maggots
are found in the young plant of the onion
Another insect builds little ark of bits of
wood in which she deposits her eggs, and
floats it upon the waters where the egg
matches into a worm that feeds on what
swims ON the surface until his wings grow
and he is able to leave his house on the wa
IClo, anu ihOuHl LnlO luC VIC AdNC oCCh
such creatures many times. Then why
should it be strange or incredible that the
stomach of a live horse is the natural home
of the worm that grows into bott-fy? And
why should these worms bore, riddle and de-
stroy their own home? These are questions
we cannot here discuss at length.


We are aware that these notions in rela-
tions to bots may surprise many and actually
astound horse doctors; but, nevertheless, our
positions may be correct after all. We know
it is generally believed that horses often Idle
OF the bots" but we must remember that
many things are received as truths for gen.
erations and yet me proved to be false at
last. And may it not be so with the belief,
almost universal as it is, that bots kill horses?
AGRICoLA