304 The 'Book of the Goat. 



letting them roam freely over the ground during the 

 greater part of the year. I then learnt in a very practical 

 manner what I have stated above, and the lesson has been 

 repeated since in other, though similar, circumstances. 

 This opinion, however, is not based on my experience 

 alone, but on that of numerous goat-keepers who, like 

 myself, have kept their animals during most of the year on 

 grass. The nature of the soil, as before stated, has a 

 great deal to do with this; a cold clay, insufficiently 

 drained, always operates disadvantageous^ to these 

 animals sooner or later. 



General Indication's of Ill-health. 



The following are some very general symptoms of 

 constitutional disturbance, showing a goat to be out of 

 health : Suspended rumination, or what is commonly 

 called " loss of cud," the nose dry, the horns hot, a 

 swollen face, a staring coat, a tight skin, and an unnatural 

 condition of the faeces. The owner of a sick goat should 

 endeavour to locate the disease, and ascertain what organs 

 or structures are implicated, and to what extent. It is 

 well then to seek for the cause of such symptoms, as if 

 this be removed the effect will generally cease. Medicines 

 should only be had recourse to when every attempt to assist 

 Nature in the work of restoration has failed. 



A Disease Peculiar to Coats. 



There is one disease which carries off annually a very 

 large number of goats, but which has never yet been 

 properly diagnosed. It is, therefore, highly necessary 

 that the matter should receive scientific investigation. 

 This at least has been the view arrived at by the British 

 Goat Society, who, in order to throw some light on the 

 cause of the disease, issued some time ago a series of 

 questions for circulation among its members, soliciting 



