MALIGNANT INFLAMMATORY FEVER. 317 



in stocking is taken to prevent it ; which if the graziers did 

 not, they would lose half their flock annually. My opinion is 

 that the soil of Romney Marsh, being very rich, consequently 

 the clover and grasses equally so, that sheep feeding on these 

 rich pastures must be more subject to inflammation than those 

 fed on poorer soils, particularly in the spring, when the young 

 shoots of the grasses and natural clover are full of juices : 

 besides, when in this state they are greedily eaten by the 

 animals, which often proves fatal, particularly after a warm 

 day or two. 



" On opening them the contents of the abdomen are more 

 or less inflamed, and some parts are very dark colored, and 

 emit a very offensive smell. Sometimes the heart or lungs 

 appear to be primarily affected; and sometimes the liver, 

 bowels, and stomach, which is very easily perceived by the 

 dark and livid appearance of the part. It is said that bad- 

 mouthed sheep never die of this disease, because they can not 

 feed on short, nutritious grass, but on coarse long herbage 

 which does not enrich the blood. I am of opinion that it is 

 an inflammatory disease, and that the only remedy is large 

 bleedings, so as rapidly to lower the system." 



MALIGNANT INFLAMMATORY FEVER. This malady 

 appears occasionally in England, but is common as a 

 very destructive epizootic in France, where it is termed 

 La Maladie de Sologne. It prevails in low, marshy districts 

 where the sheep are wintered very poorly, folded in close, 

 damp stables, and turned out in the spring to - gorge them- 

 selves on the watery, rapidly-growing vegetation. It appears 

 toward the close of spring, and rages until August. Its early 

 symptoms are, says Mr. Youatt, "suspension of rumination, 

 loss of appetite, dullness, weeping from the eye, coldness of 

 the ears, alternate shiverings and flashings of heat. Soon 

 afterward the mouth and the breath become hot the eyes 

 are red the pulse is accelerated, and weak and irregular 

 and there is a mucous discharge from the nostrils, to which 

 succeeds bloody mucus, and then a mixture of purulent 

 matter and blood. By degrees, the urine becomes bloody 

 and the excrements are covered with grumous blood the 

 head and legs are swelled the debility is extreme, and the 

 animal dies in the course of eight or ten days. The greater 

 part of the animals attacked by this disease perish. The 

 sheep in the finest condition die soonest, and with greatest 

 certainty." 



