MODERN FARRIER. 411 



been mistaken for rot. Mr. Stevenson, indeed, has 

 considered the lungs to be its chief seat. Cold is 

 the most frequent cause of consumption, although 

 inflammation may be excited by other means. 



Sheep are sometimes born with little tumours, 

 called tubercles, on their lungs ; and these appear to 

 be the original seat of the disease in them, as in the 

 human subject. These tubercles being inflamed by 

 cold or other means, swell and become filled with 

 matter. Sometimes they are coughed up in this 

 state ; but most frequently they degenerate into 

 ulcers, which spread and consume the substance of 

 the lungs. When the lungs are affected in any case 

 of rot, it is a hopeless business to attempt a cure, 

 especially if they are suspected to be ulcerated. But 

 as it may often happen that such tubercles as have 

 filled with matter may be coughed up, mere diffi- 

 culty of breathing need not deter us from attempt- 

 ing a cure. But the liver must be considered as the 

 principal seat of the disease ; and as it is the organ 

 which prepares the bile, which assists digestion, we 

 ought by all means, to endeavour to restore it to a 

 sound state. With respect to the fluke-worms 

 formed in the livers of rotten sheep, their production 

 cannot be fully explained ; but it is sufficient that 

 we know that they do exist in diseased livers, to be 

 convinced of the propriety of destroying them if 

 possible. 



Causes. — This disease never attacks sheep on dry 

 lands. It has been observed to affect sheep which 

 were before healthy, almost immediately on their 

 being sent to feed on soft wet pastures. Mr. James 

 Hogg thinks that it proceeds from a sudden fall in 

 condition. Others have assigned bad and unwhole- 

 some food as the cause of the rot. A sudden fail in 

 condition may accompany the disease without hav- 

 ing induced it. A sheep may continue to fill its 

 belly, and yet fall off". It is the cause of the transi- 

 tion from fatness to leanness, and not the transition 



