330 PARASITES OF ANIMALS 



with a liberal quantity of manger food, such as beans, peas, and 

 other leguminous seeds. The fodder, of whatever kind, should 

 be frequently changed, and many other hygienic measures 

 adopted, all tending to promote the appetite and general health 

 of the animal. An admixture of salines is a matter of essential 

 importance, especially in cases where the disease is not far 

 advanced. The beneficial effect of salt is one of those few 

 points on which nearly all parties are agreed, and its preserva- 

 tive influence in the case of sheep fed upon salt-water marsh- 

 land has been previously explained. In regard, however, to 

 the legion of remedies which have from time to time been pro- 

 posed, all I need here say is, that most of them when fairly 

 tested have been found to fail ignominiously. Every year we 

 hear of the adoption, often with enthusiasm, of new so-called 

 specifics, or of ancient medicines whose employment had long 

 fallen into disuse. T.hus, for example, in the April number of 

 the ' Journal des Veterinaires du Midi ' for 1 860, we find M. 

 Raynaud strongly recommending soot, in doses of from one to 

 three spoonfuls, to be followed up by the administration of a 

 grain of lupin for tonic purposes. In like manner, we received 

 from France wonderful accounts of the medicinal virtues of a 

 certain foetid oleaginous compound, the value of which was put 

 to a fair test by our distinguished veterinarian, Professor 

 Simonds. Having with infinite care and trouble undertaken a 

 series of experiments with the remedy in question, Mr Simonds 

 writes in the ' Scottish Farmer and Horticulturist ' to the effect 

 that, as a result of his inquiries, he fears " we must conclude that 

 this supposed cure of rot in sheep has proved quite ineffective 

 for good." The last new " cure " announced is by Mr Robert 

 Fletcher (' Journ. Nat. Agric. Soc. of Victoria/ Dec., 1878). 



The examination of rotten sheep is not altogether free 

 from danger. Professor Simonds tells us that in August, 

 1854, " a person of intemperate habits, following the occupa- 

 tion of a country butcher, was employed in skinning and 

 dressing a number of rotten sheep on the premises of a farmer 

 in the county of Norfolk. The sheep were necessarily opened 

 when warm, and while he was so engaged he complained 

 greatly of the sickening smell. The same evening he was 

 attacked with choleraic disease, and two days afterwards was a 

 corpse." This case is highly instructive and, when taken in 

 connection with the well-known fact that animals affected with 

 the disease putrefy very rapidly, clearly points to the neces- 



