SONJET.

Waikato Argus, Volume IV, Issue 235, 15 January 1898, Page 2

SONJET.

THE GREAT LUNG WORM SPECIFIC

In this issue flockowners will note an advertisement calling their attention to Sonjet, the specific for lungworm in slicep. The following letter on sheep drenches appeared in the Auckland Weekly News of January Bth, over the signature of N. A. Larney, admitted to he one' of the best authorities in the Southern Hemisphere upon the subject of helminthology, and his letter on this subject will b? rsad with interest by sheep-owners, and is particularly opportune at this season : In the Auckland Weekly News of December 25, 1897, there appears an article under the heading of " Furae and fcheep Drenches," purporting to be a part of the proceedings of the Port Albert Agricultural Society, and signed " A Correspondent," The portion that interests me most is the statement said to have been made by a " Professor Parkes," whoever that dignitary may be, viz., that he, the " professor," tried at Momohaki all the drenches for sheep on the market, except Izal (what a pity to except this just then), and found the sheep not drenched at all were better at the end of the winter than any of those drenched. Hence, said this authority, all drenches given to sheep were not only positively useless, but were really hurtful. This statement is utterly at variance witli the facts brought to light by the Hawke's Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society in their trial of sheep drenches held at Napier, and published in the Napier Telegraph of February 1, 1895. I believe the Dorthern district of this province has been a sort of happy hunting ground of late to " professors " claiming an exclusive kuowledge of the various parasites infesting our sheep, and the methods of dealing with (hem. For my own part, I may state that the fact of a man being dubbed " professor" dons not necessarily make him a hclminthologist cr an authority on helminthology, any more than it would make him an authority on surgery, medicine, electricity, sanitation, or jurisprudence. Not knowing the " new professor." or his qualificatisus, we can on'y estimate his knowledge of a subject Ly his utterances thereon, and from the many testimonials and certificates received from experienced aud responsible flockowners in praise of the efficacy of at least two drenches now on the market, viz., Larney's '•Anthelmintic " an 1 the new dreuch' " Sonjet," the remarks cf the learned professor must by taken cum gram salts ; particularly in a country where majorities rale, we must accept ;he verdict of the many, especially the experienced many, in preftrence to* the new ipse dixit of oue who has yet to win his spurs in the fields of Strougylus Filaria. Unfortunate'y we have in these colonies far too much clap trap on this and kindred subjects. Very often third and fourth rate men pose as authorities, and claim, as new discoveries, facts that were known to students of these subjects 45 to 50 years ago.

Take, for instance, lungworm. How long ago is it since Professor Cobbold recommended fumigation by chlorine gas for it 3 eradication and cure ? How very long since G. A. Leaney, a student under Cobbold, published his experiments in that Held and its successful effects on cattle ? And now we meet and read of gentlemen proposing them as new remedies and new di- coveries. Even in those distant days it »vas fully understood by practical men that healthy young sheep (hogget?) were not assailed by lungworm ; in fact, lungworm could not exist in healthy animals, but that a certain unhealthy condition (diathesis) was necessary for its lise and propagation. The natural deduction from these facts being that Strongylus Filaria can only exist when certain necessary elements are absent from the system owing to the debilitated coudition of the an ; mal. Restore those elements (analeptically), and you poison the food supp'y of the parasite, aud although killing an animal a few days or weeks after doing, the fact of live worms being found in the lungs on post-mortem is no proof that the process of recovery has not commenced, and this process will proceed gradual'}' until complete restoration is effected, the real criterion being the immediate cessation of the deathrate amongst the drenched portion of the (lock, their stepdy and complete recovery after one or two doses. It will thus ba seen that it is not a question of " violent drugs attacking the tough skin of the paras-ite and damaging the delicate lung fibre," as so elegantly expressed by another authority ; it is simply a grateful restoration of vitality to the thecp, acting through the blood as a germicide, and gradually restoring the animal to a sound healthy condition. This is the secret of success in curing lungworm and kindred parasitic diseases ; and men who do not understand this, or how it can be doue, whether professors or laymen, are simply ignorant of an elemental and necessary principle in the helminthology.