194 SHEEP DISEASES: 



fungus. Shepherds entertain such strong views as to its con- 

 tagious character as, in many instances, to lead them to smear 

 tar on the noses of their sheep ; they had better smear it on the 

 skin under their tails, or remove them from the contaminated 

 pastures and apply a top-dressing of lime or salt. 



Anthrax — so called from a " live coal " owing to the dark 

 colour of the local lesions — is the most deadly of all this class of 

 diseases and does not confine its ravages to one particular kind 

 of animal but distributes its favours impartially. So-called 

 " red braxy " is often nothing more nor less than anthrax. The 

 labours of biologists have made us intimately acquainted with 

 the nature of this disease and its literature is simply enormous. 

 Moreover, it is the disease the discovery of the character of 

 which has led to such important results in reference to other 

 germ disorders. 



It is due to a minute staff-like organism, termed from its 

 shape a bacillus, and belonging to the class of fission fungi. It 

 is, on the whole, the largest of this class of fungi found in 

 animals and in the blood streams and tissues multiplies only by 

 fission, but when cultivated in proper media, or, what is of 

 more importance to farmers, when it gains access to suitable 

 soils, it multiplies rapidly by spores which by various agencies 

 find their way on to vegetables grown on such soils and into 

 drinking-water, and produce the disease in other animals that 

 may take in the contaminated food or water. These organisms, 

 and particularly their spores, are possessed of wonderful vitality 

 and retain their destructive properties for a very considerable 

 period in the earth ; hence the necessity of thoroughly destroy- 

 ing every part of the carcass, the blood and the internal organs 

 of animals which have suffered from the disease. It is pro- 

 pagable to the human subject and is known under various 

 designations in many parts of the world. There is reason too to 

 believe that it may be disseminated by artificial manures, and 

 sometimes even by artificial foods, as it often appears in situa- 

 tions where it has never before been seen. 



Black-leg is a disease somewhat allied to it but the organism 

 that produces it is of rather a different character and it is much 

 less virulent. 



Sheep-pox is a disease probably unknown to most of the 

 present generation of breeders and I sincerely hope it will long 

 remain so. With the precautions at present taken by the Privy 

 Council authorities there is little probability of its being intro- 

 duced into this country, as it is purely an exotic disease. 



Pleiiro-pneumoQiia is peculiar to the ox, and no person has 

 as yet succeeded in transmitting it to any other animal, though 

 statements have recently been made by certain parties to the 

 effect that sheep suffer from contagious lung disease. In a 



