666 MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP INTERNAL PARASITES 



liberal feeding. One fact in connection with this disease is 

 worthy of special consideration. The presence of flukes in 

 the liver, even in considerable numbers, does not necessitate 

 the appearance of the dangerous symptoms described. Few 

 sheep are killed in Galloway, a large district in the South- 

 west of Scotland, without flukes being found in their livers : 

 yet death from " rot " to any extent is very exceptional. 

 When sheep first become affected, the stimulating influence 

 on the liver makes them thrive rapidly for a time. This has 

 led to the practice by some feeders of putting fattening sheep 

 on flooded land to be " fluked." Rot certainly has done 

 much damage among breeding flocks, and will continue to do 

 so on damp undrained land in wet seasons, like that of 1889, 

 but there are good reasons to believe that much of the death 

 from so-called "rot" has been from a very different cause, 

 which is described under lung disease at p. 669. 



Husk or Hoose is a bronchial catarrh, the result of 

 the irritating action of a number of long, hair-like, round 

 white worms, Strongylus filaria, in the bronchial tubes. It 

 is most common amongst lambs, if they be pastured on 

 land recently occupied by sheep, as they pick up the eggs 

 (ova) dropped by their predecessors with their food. The 

 attack is evinced by a peculiar husky cough, made worse by 

 exertion ; by an unthrifty appearance ; and by a mucous 

 discharge from the nostrils, which often contains the worms 

 or their eggs. Weak animals, and those which develop large 

 numbers of worms, frequently die. To prevent the occur- 

 rence of this malady, sheep should be kept in good thriving 

 condition, and young stock should never be put on land 

 previously soiled by sheep. Remedial treatment is directed 

 towards the destruction of the worms. A turpentine drench 

 has been long considered efficacious ; to \ oz. at a time 

 being given to a lamb, and this repeated twice, with an 

 interval of three days between the administrations. Turpen- 

 tine is a most poisonous and dangerous drug if given too 

 frequently, or in too large quantities, to sheep, as it sets up 

 inflammation in nearly all the important organs of the 

 abdomen ; and most sheep thus poisoned will die within a 

 few days, after evincing, by dullness, restlessness, and the 

 grinding of their teeth, that they are suffering severe internal 

 pain. A purgative only aggravates the condition, and 



