198 FITTING SHEEP 



country I had always considered this phenomena to be the 

 result of a violent cold the animal may have at some time 

 been suffering from. The true cause of this disease was 

 brought about in a somewhat novel way. Perhaps it may not 

 be generally known that a small "black gut," as the smaller 

 of the intestines is known to the butcher, was before the 

 manufacture of the artificial, used in sausage casing. 



Quite often these casings were found to be defective or 

 easily broken, and were quite useless for the purpose for 

 which they were intended, and investigation for the real cause 

 of this trouble led to the discovery of the parasite which was 

 responsible for that condition of the intestines, now known as 

 knotty guts or nodular disease of the intestines. That sheep 

 do live and thrive without showing the least symptoms of 

 the presence of such an enemy I have every reason to be- 

 lieve, for, as I have before intimated, I have quite often 

 found them existing in sheep that I have slaughtered that 

 in every way appeared healthy, vigorous and strong; and 

 quite a number of those sheep that I have killed in recent 

 years have been more or less affected, although showing no- 

 symptoms of the existence of this disease. Whether or not 

 there is a cure for the trouble I am at present unable to say, 

 but I consider it to be an exceedingly difficult disease to 

 treat, and there is little hope of a cure, on account of the 

 situation of the nodules making it somewhat difficult for 

 medicine to reach the seat of the trouble. 



Hints on Making; a Post-Mortem Examination. 



Every shepherd would be doing an exceeding wise thing 

 if he would make it a point to open and make a thorough 

 examination of every sheep that dies, excepting those from 



