TilE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



48^ 



THE ROT IN SHEEP. 



DISCUSSION AT TAVISTOCK. 



Mr. Reuben Thomas, farrkr, ol' St. Auatell, and Mr. 

 Alfred F. Bickford, veteriuary surgeon, of Totnes, recently 

 met, as we intimated some time since they would, in the 

 Tavistock Guildhall for the purpose of diaussing this import- 

 ant subject. It being the fair day a very large number of 

 farmers and others immediately interested iu the question 

 were in allendance. 



Mr. Weekes, having been voted to the chair, proceeded 

 at once to call upon 



Mr. Thomas, who, on rising, said he looked upon the 

 science of agriculture as the most important of any science, 

 for the rich and poor, old and young, had to live by it. The 

 rot iu sheep was one of the greatest calamities that agricul- 

 turists had to contend against. The rot disease and the 

 fluke disease were two separate diseases, although several 

 theorists classed them together, and this, he believed, was one 

 of the reasons why they had been unable to discover a remedy. 

 The theory of the present day was supported by doctors, 

 professors, men of learning, and had been confirmed by public 

 opinion. Now, he would tell them that doctors disagreed, 

 and that public opinion could not be depended upon. Doctors 

 had disagreed for more than 300 years ; one said one thing was 

 the cause, while the other contended that it was the effect. 

 They all agreed upon the anatomy or the structure of the 

 sheep, how the vessels acted ; but upon this identical disease 

 they difltred. To show that public opinion was at variance, 

 he said that Dr. Harvey, about two hundred years ago, differed 

 aboat the left ventricle of the heart, and the consequence was, 

 that he was censured by other doctors and by physicians. But 

 every veteriuary surgeon and every farmer believed that Dr. 

 Harvey was right. A few years ago they believed they were 

 going to be ruined by the introduction of Sir Robert Peel's 

 cattle tariff, aud later still they entertained the same opinion 

 with respect to his measure for the Corn Law Repeal; but 

 their fears were unfounded, such a result had not come to 

 pass. Now the question came, what were they to do ? His 

 answer was. Search for the truth into the laws of nature ; every 

 farmer should be a naturalist, and should bring his son to be 

 one too. He denied that to be a naturalist a man must be an 

 Atheist, aud said he should give them evidences of it. He 

 had to stand up by the side of a scientific man, aud he only 

 came there to give them evideuce of what he had seen and 

 what he knew himself from his own experience, and with that 

 he was ready to meet the whole world. They must not look 

 to him for any set speech: it was not a question of education, 

 but of identity. The first thing he had to do before he in- 

 troduced his subject, was to tell the meeting how the present 

 discussion was got up. Mr. Bickford'a letters had appeared 

 in the papers, in which he contended that the rot dis- 

 ease was one complaint whilst he (Mr. Thomas) in 

 letters he had written, contended it was two. 

 He would ask them not to be moved by any 

 opinions they might hear expressed, but to reason, calcu- 

 late, and appeal to their own judgment. The speaker then 

 referred to the notice of Mr. Bickford's lecture which ap- 

 peared iu the West Briton, and which he believed to be as 

 good as Professor Simonds's upon the same subject. In that 

 lecture Mr. Bickford stated 1 st, that in the earliest stages of rot 



the symptoms are exceedingly obscure. 2ud, We know that 

 iu the early stages of rot sheep improve iu condition. 3rd, 

 That flukes beget eggs, aud these afterwards are found float- 

 ing in the bile, aud are discharged with the dung of rotten 

 sheep, 4th, That the eggs beget animalcules, aud they 

 transform themselves several times between the eggs and the 

 flukes ; aud that these eggs maintain their vitality for a 

 length of time iucredible ; and that sheep get these flukes by 

 eating the animalcules. 5th, That the flukes are the cause of 

 the rot in the liver. He (Mr. Thomas) did not believe these 

 eggs would maintain their vitality ; for they must have a very 

 small coat, aud it would be impossible for them to stand the 

 heat of the sun, aud still maintaiu vitality. The next point 

 for him to argue was, that flukes were not the cause of rot ; 

 and in doing so, he would show them that sheep died from 

 rot, and not from flukes. He contended that the cause of rot 

 was from slieep lying too long in low, damp laud;. They all 

 knew that if there was one elevated piece of ground, the 

 sheep would climb up aud get close to it, like a lot of limpets 

 to a rock. The diseased sheep would appear to get fat : they 

 would appear a little plumper, but all they could get out of 

 them was water, and not fat. As regarded practical expe- 

 rience, he held a good position ; and he would tell them ho- 

 nestly and candidly that seven diseases out of ten arose from 

 ignorance and neglect in management. So soon as the farmer 

 began to study the constitution of sheep, and the nature of 

 the soil they were placed on, he would find out a remedy to 

 prevent these diseases. He contended, first of all, that sheep 

 took cold. That interrupted digestion, and fermentation took 

 place. Inflammation sot iu upon that ; aud the liver being 

 the nearest neighbour to the stomach, inflammation seized 

 that almost directly. Then the blood-vessels stopped flow- 

 ing, which brought ou gangrene ; and then followed the rot, 

 or putrefaction. If such were the ease, would auy man of 

 common sense tell him that sheep was improving ? Would 

 any schoolboy eight years old tell him so ? It was ridiculous 

 iu the extreme. Mr. Bickford told them that rot, iu its first 

 stages, could be prevented ; but such a theory was contrary 

 to their experieuce. This disease — the rot — was uever 

 known on dry land, except in particular sheep that might 

 be penned down, or from other causes. It all originated, 

 as he had before stated, from low, damp lands. He had 

 made every iuquiry, and he had found that flukes were not 

 the cause of rot. This brought him to the fluke question. 

 Now they must know the origin of everything they took in 

 hand. They might divide the world into three kingdoms — 

 the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms. In all these 

 three, everything acted upon laws. They should not have any- 

 thing to do with the mineral kingdom in their debate, but only 

 with the animal aud vegetable. What was the cause of flukes? 

 That belonged to the animal kingdom. Many farmers 

 thought that sheep eat certain vegetables, which got down 

 into the stomach and formed little animals. That was not 

 so. All animalcules were caused by eggs or spawn, aud these 

 flukes must necessarily be caused by one or the other ; but it 

 was impossible for him to say which. The sheep got these 

 into their livers, and when they were there in any large quan- 

 tity they destroyed the glands of the liver, and the sheep got 



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