Disease among Lambs. 289 



diarrhoea, which his opiates and cordials have had no effect in 

 checking-, is something- more than common " skit," or diarrhoea, 

 and he now calls in the aid of a veterinary surgeon, who is 

 informed that from weaning-time to about a week, ten days, or it 

 may be a month prior to the first indications of illness, the flock 

 was considered to be in excellent health, but that latterly they have 

 gone off in condition. The veterinary surgeon Avill find several of 

 the lambs which have been more recently attacked still suffering 

 from diarrhoea. This is the leading symptom, the evacuations 

 which run from the lambs in a frequent and copious stream con- 

 sisting of a watery fluid tinged green by particles of undigested food. 

 To a casual observer the flock does not appear to ail very much ; 

 but when quietly watched they manifest an air of listlessness, per- 

 vading the whole flock, and many are seen to be troubled with a 

 short " pecking " cough. Those that purge are dull and dispirited, 

 but still continue to eat, and in them thirst is so great that they 

 greedily lick up any moisture they can find in ruts and other 

 hollows. The remaining constitutional symptoms presented by 

 those in the first stage of disease are a dry muzzle, hot mouth, 

 quick, weak, and thready pulse, respirations accelerated, urine of 

 a light colour, voided frequently and in large quantities, the 

 visible mucous membranes somewhat pallid, but having their 

 larger vessels injected ; the appetite does not utterly fail, nor is 

 the function of rumination totally suspended. All the symptoms 

 become aggravated as the last stage approaches ; the wool is 

 easily detached from its follicles, separation from the flock pre- 

 cedes uncertainty of movement and semicoma, then death shortly 

 supervenes. 



I have made many post-mortem examinations, and observed that 

 the appearances found in any one case are common to all. When I 

 slaughtered for that purpose animals in the last stage of the disease, 

 I noticed, first, the small quantity of blood which flowed from the 

 wound ; next, the rapidity with which it formed a soft ana?mic 

 coagulum ; then that death shortly followed, with scarcely an 

 expiratory struggle. The carcase at first sight appears to be 

 pretty well nourished, but a closer inspection shows that this 

 apparent condition is due to the disposal of a very fair quantity 

 of fat in the usual subcutaneous situations, whilst the muscular 

 tissues are remarkable for their pallid appearance and evident 

 atrophy. In the thoracic cavity the lungs are found blanched, 

 the heart contains soft coagula, but both organs are structurally 

 healthij. There is no evidence of filaria (thread-worms) in the 

 trachea or bronchial tubes. The contents of the abdominal cavity 

 are remarkably pale, the pallor being due to atrophy of the coats 

 of their involuntary muscles ; indeed so attenuated are the walls 

 of the intestines that a very slight amount of force is sufficient to 



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