THEIR CAUSES, NATURE, AND PREVENTION. 181 



advent of congestive and inflammatory conditions (so called 

 inJlaniviatio7i) and also extravasations of blood into the tissues, 

 producing one form of so-called red braxy. 



Milk may be briefly alluded to here seeing that it contains a 

 relatively large amount of proteid matter as well as fat. It is 

 a well-known fact that milk contains all the elements necessary 

 to the nourishment of the animal body and it is, practically, 

 the only food of which this can be said. If, however, milk is 

 deficient in nutrient materials and in salts, owing to some 

 inherent defect in the blood of the animal that produces it, we 

 cannot expect that the consumers of it can either retain their 

 health or grow ; and, as a matter of fact, nearly every disease 

 from which young animals, whether lambs or otherwise, suffer, 

 is due to impoverished or to excessively rich milk. Moreover, 

 milk is most certainly a conveyancer of disease-producing germs 

 and other injurious matters from the mother to the offspring, as 

 is seen in anthrax (though this is denied by some) and in the 

 case of vegetable and animal poisons. In the artificial rearing 

 of young animals, skim milk, mixed with lime water, may be 

 substituted for sweet if the latter is found to be too strong. 



Innutritious food is injurious in a twofold sense — 1st, animals 

 require to take in an excessive quantity in order to obtain a 

 sufficient amount of nutritive matter and thus the digestive 

 organs become overtaxed and weakened, and indigestion 

 results ; 2nd, the tissues of the body do not gain sufficient 

 nutrition and weakness and debility follow, a matter of the 

 last importance in pregnant ewes as they cannot, under such 

 circumstances, provide sufficient nourishment for two lives, or it 

 may be for three or four. 



Dirty foods, i.e., dirty turnips and fouled or sanded grass, are 

 injurious, as the dirt or sand collects in the pouches of the 

 stomachs and in the blind gut (caecum), mechanically interferes 

 with their action, and produces irritation and inflammation, 

 and even ulceration. 



Frosted food should always be avoided if possible and sheep 

 should not be put on frosted turnips until the day is well 

 advanced ; it is particularly harmful in pregnant ewes. 



Decortvposing and decaying foods are the most injurious of 

 all ; and it passes my comprehension how an enlightened man 

 can in the early spring, when his crop of swedes has exceeded 

 the wants of his flocks and herds, take the half or wholly rotten 

 roots and scatter them thickly on the pastures for his sheep to 

 eat. They may manage to pick out " tit bits " here and there, 

 but in doing so they swallow also a large proportion of decom- 

 posing matter, than which nothing is more likely to set up 

 septic inflammation of the true stomach and bowels, and produce 

 diarrhcea and even blood poisoning. 



