538 Professor David James ffamilton [March 8, 



the waters of the Gulf Stream impinge upon the Httoral of a country, 

 there Braxy will be found to prevail. It is quite likely that other 

 diseases of the group, as well as Braxy, infest such countries, although 

 nothing is known of the matter. 



Pecuniary Loss. — The pecuniary loss entailed upon sheep-farming 

 districts afflicted by these diseases, directly and indirectly, is enor- 

 mous. It has been calculated that our loss in Great Britain must 

 amount to something like half-a-million yearly, and this, I fear, is 

 really an under-statement of the case. So dreadful is the mortality 

 in certain areas of Scotland that sheep-farming, as a profitable 

 industry, is ceasing to exist. 



It would be too large an undertaking to attempt even to outline 

 the features of each of the diseases I have enumerated in a lecture 

 of the present scope. I shall select two of them for the purpose of 

 illustration, namely, Braxy {Morbus suhitarius ovis), and what is 

 popularly known as " Louping-ill," or the leaping disease (Chorea 

 paralytica ovis). 



Braxy— Symptoms . 



Under natural circumstances the animal dies so rapidly that 

 opportunity is seldom afforded of studying the disease from its 

 commencement until its termination. All accounts, however, seem 

 to agree that a short, quick, step is, perhaps, the first sign notice- 

 able. The animal is off its feed, and is restless, with a tendency 

 to lie down and get up suddenly, as if expressive of a certain 

 uneasiness. Quite likely it is noticed that it does not rise so readily 

 to the dog as others do. When the disease has been conferred 

 experimentally, by inoculation upon a hind limb, 1 have found 

 that the liml> invariably hangs down in a paretic condition, the ankle 

 is flexed, and the animal continues to roam about in a half-dazed 

 condition, trailing the inoculated limb after it. The pulse varies 

 l)etween 'M) and o5 per minute, and is often imperceptible in the 

 extremities, the breathing is somewhat laboured and from 40 to 42 

 per minute, while the temperature runs from 105° to 10<s° F. Rumi- 

 nation is entirely suspended, and a crunching noise is sometimes 

 emitted. The belly usually begins to swell, the back rises, the head 

 is depressed, and the animal roams about in a listless manner ; then 

 l)robal)ly, if not enclosed, it will crawl tiway from its mates, take refuge 

 in a cranny or nook, and finally fall over on its side. When this 

 stage is reached, my ex])ei'ience leads me to conjecture that the fatal 

 issue is not far off. J*r()bii])ly, within an liour or two, the animal is 

 dead. The blood is said to be very dark and thick, and does not 

 flow easily, but I think that undue emphasis has been hud on this as 

 a sign of tlie disease. 1 have known a sul)ject of natural Braxy 

 bleed to death into its own stomach. When once tlie animal falls 

 over, it passes into a semi-comatose state, and makes no further efl'ort 



