BLOOD DISEASE IN LAMBS. 327 



that can scarcely be supported by their own mothers, are 

 placed with the ewes which had lost their offspring. To make 

 the ewe take to the lamb, the skin of the dead one is put on 

 the latter, and this is attended with bad results. The lamb 

 thus covered up often dies, and it was thought that this 

 depended on the young animal catching the prevailing 

 disease. It turned out, however, that the real cause of death 

 was suppressed action of the skin, or poisoning the blood of 

 the otherwise plethoric lamb. 



The symptoms of the disease are sudden staggering and 

 drooping look of the finest lambs. They are sometimes 

 costive, and at others purged. The navel is then felt to be 

 swollen and flabby. The eyes get yellow. The animal can- 

 not stand, but if lifted to its dam, attempts to suck. It 

 dwindles, and dies in from a few hours to a week. 



After death, dark blood is found in the viscera ; the um- 

 bilical veins are swollen, the liver is engorged, and studded 

 with multiple abscesses, and there is often yellowness of the 

 tissues of the body generally. 



Treatment consists in placing the flock on bare keep, and 

 either giving purgatives or doses of neutral salts to the ewes. 



As to prevention, moderation in feeding is the great 

 secret, so as to keep up the condition of stock, without hav- 

 ing an excess of internal fat, and an extraordinary richness 

 of blood. All the organs of these animals must be kept in 

 activity, by appropriate exercise. It is bad for all breeding 

 animals to be kept too quiet. They should be made to run 

 about, even after they are drafted out in the order they are 

 to lamb. It is impossible to be too careful with this. 

 Some have suggested giving common salt to the ewes in 

 food. This is a useful agent in rot and other disorders 

 attended with an impoverished state of blood, but it is very 

 injurious in animals that are plethoric. If any medicine is 



