EOT IN SHEEP. 363 



some cases the disease is rapid in its course, and this season 

 (18G2) a large number of sheep have been killed very quickly 

 on lands usually reputed as very sound. Pallor of the visible 

 mucous membranes, wasting, &c., could be seen in these 

 sheep, but only to a moderate extent, and they have died 

 very suddenly. After death the liver has been found greatly 

 enlarged, its peritoneal surface often adherent to the dia- 

 phragm and other abdominal organs, and few flukes con- 

 tained in the liver. The small quantity and pale character of 

 the blood indicate, however, the real condition of the sheep. 



As a rule rot progresses at first in an insidious form ; the 

 flanks get hollow, the back rigid, and there is a decided 

 yellow colour of the eye, and, where visible, often of the 

 skin ; the fleece drops off in patches ; the belly enlarges ; 

 the back droops; and there is a disposition to dropsical 

 swellings in different parts of the body. There is frequently 

 an insatiable thirst as in other dropsical diseases, the pulse 

 is frequent and very feeble, the heart-beats active, and anaemic 

 murmurs are heard ; the breathing becomes quick and short, 

 there is a slight cough, most marked in all cases complicated 

 by the presence of strongyli in the air passages. 



The most remarkable of the dropsical swellings is around 

 the throat. A sheep thus affected is said to be checkered. 

 The alimentary canal is disturbed, and, with the quantity of 

 liquids drunk, diarrhoea is apt to supervene. Weakness and 

 listlessness, amounting to a state of stupor, increase, and the 

 animals die in a hectic state. 



The treatment of rot in sheep requires the early removal 

 to sound pasture; feeding on corn, peas, beans, and other 

 nutritious grain ; allowing full doses of common salt and 

 sulphate of iron in the food, and, when necessary, administer- 

 ing a purgative so as to keep the digestive organs in good 

 order. 



