The Digestive Organs in Young Sheep. 645 



there for ton or twelve montlis, and tlien examine tlie deposit at 

 the bottom, wliicli has the aj)pearance of so much decomposed matter, 

 you will see the young worms beginning to exist in the eggs, and not 

 before. Their vitality is preserved. They undergo a subsequent 

 change. The young worm is produced ; it becomes parasitic, and 

 enters the intestines and stomach of the animal. So that in reality we 

 open up a vast field of science — one that will amply repay an indi- 

 vidual for cultivating it, but which will require a life, or two or three, 

 to make anything out of it at all. 



Eejiedial Agents. 



As a means of getting rid of these intestinal worms as a cause of 

 diarrhcea, I believe that great benefit would result from the daily use 

 of salt. Even though the lambs are scouring, and salt is otherwise 

 objectionable, a certain quantity of it mingled with ordinary food will 

 be found effectual in arresting diarrhoea. Besides that, advantage will 

 result from the more direct anthelmintic agents. Let balls, which are 

 preferable to draughts, be made of Venice tiu'pentine, with sulphate of 

 iron and some gentian. Give them to the sheep, and you will find 

 that you bring away these tricocepliali and coUus-tcenia in very large 

 numbers. Then, having got rid of this cause, ordinary attention and 

 dry food will be effectual in restoring the health of the animal. 



Straw as Food. 



But besides the forementioned causes of diarrhoea in lambs, we have 

 occasionally other agents that are of an opposite character. Sheep 

 suffer less than any other animals from what we may call an excess 

 of indigestible woody fibre. We will suppose, by way of illustra- 

 tion, that a man has a number of young weaning calves, or under a 

 year old. He is rather niggard. He has heard a great deal about 

 the nutritive properties of straw, and he thinks fit to have it cut 

 into chaff, and supplied to his animals in excess, I know what will 

 be the result. He will have a certain number of cases of diarrhoea, 

 and occasionally sustain severe losses in consequence. That diarrhoea 

 depends upon the direct irritating effects of the indigesta upon the 

 intestinal canal. It is a material that is not properly digested and 

 assimilated. The fact is that straw is straw, and in the body of an 

 animal you can make nothing else out of it. You may rely upon it that a 

 very small quantity of blood will come out of it ; whilst there is a 

 great deal of indigestible material in it, which acts as an irritant on 

 the intestinal canal, and produces diarrhoea. Sheep will now and then 

 suffer from similar causes. If a man gives too much chaff' and too 

 little corn to his sheep, or if he withholds a certain quantity of green 

 and succulent food at the commencement of ■winter, there will be 

 frequent cases of diarrhoea. The same amount of mischief, however, 

 is not produced in sheep as in cattle, because sheep, though ruminating 

 animals, gather their food in a somewhat different manner from oxen ; 

 they take more pains, in short, in masticating their food. Hence, 

 when sheep are uj)on pastures, we see them feeding very closely, and 

 masticating every mouthful for a longer time than the ox, which 



VOL. III. — S. S. 2 U 



