RED WATER IN SHEEP. 325 



pleural cavity; the lungs were much congested, but no struc- 

 tural disease existed; the pericardial sac contained about its 

 usual quantity of fluid. The heart had an unnaturally large 

 appearance. On laying open its right side, both cavities 

 were found to contain a large quantity of coagulated blood, 

 which likewise extended into the large vessels connected 

 therewith, particularly the anterior and posterior cava and 

 coronary veins. The right auricle, when freed from its con- 

 tents, also exhibited ecchymosed spots in its muscular struc- 

 ture beneath the lining membrane. The left side of the 

 heart contained but a small quantity of blood, which was 

 likewise of a dark black colour, but showed no marks of 

 structural disease." 



Other diseases are occasionally termed red water, and, in 

 the majority, the leading symptom amongst sheep, as amongst 

 cattle, is the redness of the urine. 



Professor Murray, of the Cirencester Agricultural College, 

 speaks of red water in ewes as characterized by jaundice, 

 port wine colour of urine, and loss of condition; as the 

 disease advances, the anaemic condition is very marked, the 

 heart's action is frequent, sometimes up to 140 per minute, 

 and its sound loud, the respirations are also rapid, and the 

 animal soon sinks from sheer exhaustion. 



The pallor, or yellowness of the tissues of the body, soft- 

 ened condition of the liver, and scanty quantity of blood, 

 are the characteristic post-mortem appearances. 



Treatment consists in giving nutritious food and tonics, 

 both mineral and vegetable. 



Delafond describes a variety of these blood diseases under 

 the name diarrhcemia, and their general characters are 

 breaking up of the blood, ecchymoses, secretions tinged with 

 blood ; and as an illustration of the cause of these condi- 

 tions is defective nutriment, he alludes to the appearance of 



