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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



should recommeud you to do that which is impracticable. 

 Such could not be done by those who farm the level laud of 

 certain diatiicta. Traditional experience teaches us, that if 

 sheep are provided with a portion of dry food, such as hay, 

 oilcake, salt, &c., they are less susceptible. And expe- 

 rience, not yet a year old, has taught us that sheep on one 

 farm were kept perfectly sound by supplying them with such 

 food; while those on neighbouring farms, placed precisely 

 under the same circumstances, with the exception of having 

 no food of this kind, were affected. Every precaution must 

 be taken to prevent the disease ; and as it is only contracted 

 from May down to about September perhaps, that is the 

 time for you to exeiclae your vigilance. If you then neglect 

 to do so, you realize the truth of Lord Bacon's apophthegm, 

 that " occasion presents a bald pate— after presenting her front 

 locks no hold is taken." Tceae are the simple measures for 

 you to adopt; they will repay you (ar better than a fruitless 

 search after specifics that are only recommended by those who 

 wish to fatten upon your credulity. Whoever has made an 

 examination of the liver of a sheep that has died in the ad- 

 vanced stage of rot— whoever is acquainted with its structure 

 and function in a state of health, must know that it cannot 

 be restored to its pristine condition, or that anything more 

 can be done than prolong a miserable existence. The lecturer 

 may tell you that he can prevent the rot ; but when he tells 

 you that he can stay the ravages of flukes, I can only give it 

 as my decided opinion that no satisfactory progress will be 

 made, that no satisfactory solution of the mystery will be 

 arrived at, so long as investigators are influeuced by such 

 absurd, inconsistent, and empirical foibles. 



Mr. Thomas reasserted his former opinions, Mr. Bick- 

 ford, he said, had insinuated that he (Mr. T.) was against 

 those men who used medicine, but he was not opposed to it for 

 certain purposes, as for instance when given to horses or bul- 

 locks ; but he would ask the farmer what he got by paying 

 for medicine to prevent the rot or flukes ? Mr. Bickford had 

 his eye to medicine, but he looked at the community. 



A Voice : Let's hear the cure you suggest. (Confusion, 

 and cries of " Chair.") 



Mr. Thomas said, the course to be observed would be not to 

 allow their sheep to go into those low lauds at a certain sea- 

 son when the flies he referred to laid their eggs or spawn over 

 the vegetable he named. The next thing to be observed was 

 not to allow their sheep about October and November to lie 

 by night on low damp lands, and they would not then get the 

 flukes nor be rotted. 



Mr. John Bickford, veterinary surgeon, of Kingsbridge, 

 here rose for the purpose, as he said, of discussing this ques- 

 tion with the great man from the west (laughter and confu- 

 sion) — but he was called to order. 



Mr. A. F. Bickford, in reply, stated that Mr. Thomas 

 had asserted that these eggs did not pass off in the dung of 

 the sheep. It was a matter of fact that if they took a Lttle of 

 the chyle, aud looked through a microscope, they could see 

 those eggs in countless thousands ; and if they examined the 

 dung of rotten sheep they would have ocular demonstration. 

 If he asserted a fact that had been confirmed by hundreds of 

 investigators, and Mr. Thomas denied it, he would ask whether 

 it was in his power to do more than simply state the fact 

 which had been so confirmed. He knew that the sympathies 

 of the majority of those present were with the lecturer (cries 

 of "No"). 



A gentleman here rose to order, telling Mr, Bickford he bad 

 uo right to jump at such a conclusion (confusion). 



Mr, Thomas said Mr. Bickford must show him that ani- 

 malcules were to be found in the liver of the sheep : if he did 

 tot, he must give up his point. 



It being now six o'clock, and as most of the farmers were 

 desirous of going by the G-5 train, Mr. Bickford was unable to 

 speak again, and Mr. Thomas then expressed his willingness 

 to meet him again in six weeks' time. 



Mr. G. Parson, in proposing a vote of thanks to both the 

 speakers, said he believed that if they had both met together 

 and quietly talked the matter over, they would have arrived at 

 one and the same opinion. 



Mr. Sleep thanked the lecturer for his attendance, but he 

 could not help saying that his physiology was bad ; and if he 

 would read something more about the nature of the disease 

 he would be able better to come forward and diacusa with such 

 a scientific man as Mr. Bickford. 



The resolution was then adopted. 



Mr. Thomas asked what books he should read ; but 



Mr. Sleep told him he did not want to enter into any con- 

 troversy with him about the matter. 



A vote of thanks to the Chairman brought the proceedings 

 to a close. 



A portion of the above is taken from the IFestern Morning 

 N'ews, but Mr. Bickford has supplied us with a corrected re- 

 port of what he said ; and Mr. Thomas has since addressed to 

 us the following letter : — 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE MARK LANE EXPRESS. 



Sin, — I have seen the theory of sheep rot on your paper, 

 from Professor Simonds, and, as your news is cii'culated 

 all over England for the improvement of agriculture, &c., 

 I think that any reader is justly entitled to the right of 

 inquirv into the meaning of what he sees published. I 

 have read this " Lecture" with the strictest attention, and 

 read it several times over. I have compared it with my 

 own experience, as to this disease rot. I have been ac- 

 quainted with it for twenty-six years, and T have taken the 

 greatest of pains and fatigue to get at the true natui-e of 

 this disease. I now can most clearly see liow this dis- 

 ease is brought on, and how it may be prevented. It is 

 prevented by me, aud by many others as well. If Professor 

 Simonds oliers his theory to the world, I think that there 

 can be no reason shown why he can reasonably object to 

 have his " Lecture" investigated. I have already done so. 

 1 most sincerbly beg, through your journal, to lay my views 

 before the agriculturists of this country in reference to this 

 lecture. 



1st. EoT IN THE Sheep's Liver. — I contend that " rot" 

 in English language to be putrid decay, and when once 

 established in the sheep's liver it is out of reach of any 

 Professor to remedy. Sheep may and do have flukes in their 

 livers, and not doing any injury to the liver; but, by lying 

 on damp aud clay soils iu the months of October aud 

 November, take cold iu the stomach, get inflammation in 

 the liver, and run up its course to rot, without the slightest 

 injury from flukes, and iu this very case the Professor has 

 made a serious mistake. The greater part of the sheep 

 that have died this season have died from rot, and not from 

 any injury from flukes. As for the learned Professor to 

 otier his medicine to farmers for sheep that have rot in 

 their livers ! What can he think of himself ? Does he 

 think that farmers are stupid, like their oxen ? Does he 

 know that his advice is beyond everything the most in- 

 jurious to the agriculturist? Does he really mean what 

 he says, to jiut the industrious farmer to useless expense, 

 when he very well kiwus " that every sheep that is seized 

 with rot iu its liver must eventually die '?" Why does he 

 not speak honestly and plainly, and tell the agriculturist 

 that he might just as well tiy to put new livers as to 

 attempt to cure rotten ones '? Tell the farmers that their 

 only safety is prevention : not ofler them medicine, which 

 will most eventually deceive them aud ruin them. Does 

 he know that farmers have heavy rates and taxes to pay, 

 and that they cannot afford to lose their sheep and pay for 

 medicine too ? 



2ndly. The Fluice Question. — The Professor says a 

 sheep that has flukes in the liver, that this constitutes rot, 

 aud on the first stages sheep most rapidly improve in 

 condition. If this be the case, the flukes cannot be in- 

 jurious at the time. If so, how on earth can the Professor 

 call it a disease, and name it " rot" '? Why. to be sure, he 

 should name it "fat," instead of rot ; if sheep so " rapidly 

 improve in condition." Again, for the fluke. When flukes 

 destroy the cells of the liver, the sheep sinks away in 

 debility and in dropsy instead of rot. There is as much 

 difterence in symptoms of rot and the eflects of flukes as 

 there is between the fluke itself and the sheep's liver. 

 It most clearly appears that the Professor is alto- 

 gether ignorant of what he lectures about. Will he ofler 

 his tonics iu the case of dropsy from flukes in the liver 

 after the cells of the liver are eaten by flukes '? No farmer 

 need lose one single sheep with flukes. They can pre- 

 vent the damage from flukes in sheep by keeping them off 

 from where the sheep get them, or feed them in time, 

 before the flukes hurt them. Very little instruction would 

 so get any farmer up to this mark of calculation. It is vege- 

 table that sheep eat with flies' eggs of spawn on it that 



