" BRAXY " SHEEP DISEASE IN AUSTRALIA. 589 



from the mouth. This condition may last some hours, and always 

 ends in the animal's death ; sheep, which overnight had shown no 

 signs of illness, are often found dead in the morning." 



Hamilton apparently seldom observed naturally affected 

 animals exhibiting symptoms : — " Under natural circumstances the 

 sheep die so rapidly that opportunity is seldom afforded of study- 

 ing the manifestations of the disease from their commencement 

 to their termination. All accounts, however, seem to agree in 

 describing a short, quick step as perhaps the first noticeable 

 symptom. The animal next day is off its feed and is restless, with 

 a tendency to lie down and get up suddenly, expressive, so far as one 

 can judge, of a certain uneasiness. Quite likely it does not rise so 

 readily to the dog as others do." 



As to the condition of the sheep being a predisposing factor 

 Neilsen and Jensen appear to offer no comment, and Hamilton 

 dismisses it shortly, thus : — 



" In the commencement of the outbreak of the disease the fat 

 animals are usually first attacked ; indeed the disease may be 

 limited in great part to them, even although they may happen to 

 be in close propinquity to others less well nourished." 



The chief post-mortem lesions of Bradsot observed by Jensen 

 are : — A hgemorrhagic infiltration of the abomasum wall, which 

 may extend to the small intestine, and even to the omasum, the 

 stomach usually containing no food, but often a certain amount of 

 bloody fluid ; congestion of the rest of the intestinal canal ; serous 

 effusions in the pleural and peritoneal cavities ; spleen may be 

 swollen or normal ; liver usually light coloured, soft, and degene- 

 rated ; kidneys degenerated, enlarged and soft or almost fluid in 

 consistence. The rapid decomposition of the carcase after 

 death is remarked. " The carcase decomposes very rapidly ; 

 within a short time of death the belly is distended with gas, the 

 rectum protrudes at the anus ; the skin assumes a blue colour in 

 places, and the wool falls out ; sometimes the skin bursts, re- 

 vealing the presence in the subcutaneous tissue of a sero-hfemorr- 

 hagic fluid. Braxy is, then, a primary violent haemorrhagic in- 

 flammation of the abomasum, with or without secondary general 

 infection." 



Hamilton in his summary of the morbid anatomy deals 

 very fully with the rapid putrefaction after death, and the definite 

 odour, which, however, is not peculiar to Braxy. There is oedema 

 of the subcutaneous tissues, especially on the side where the carcase 

 has rested. The abomasum is empty, but often contains a little 

 blood-stained mucous liquid ; the mucous membrane is often 

 congested in parts, " its folds infiltrated and thickened and the 

 surfaces of them abraded or distinctly ulcerated," but in other 

 cases " circumscribed black gangrenous sloughs without any great 

 tumefaction and congestion around them " may be present. In 

 spite of this it is stated " under no circumstances have we observed 

 evidences of the organism being productive of inflammatory . . . 

 phenomena." 



