THE ROT. 217 



*t6 ^'efairesf cases every medicine has occasionally failed, or failed 

 almost as often as it has succeeded. We must in no case despair: 

 the disease has sometimes been suspended, and the sheep has reco- 

 vered. Let not, however, the practitioner be deluded into the use of 

 calomel, or blue-pill, or any preparation of mercury, because the rot 

 is an affection of the liver. Mercury rarely seems to agree vi^ith the 

 herbivorous animals in any form. I have seen it do much harm in 

 some affections of the liver, and I have known many animals de- 

 stroyed by the use of it. 



There is, however, a drug, or, rather, a very common and useful 

 condiment, which I believe has entered into the composition of every 

 medicine by which this complaint has been successfully treated ; I 

 mean common salt. The virtues of this substance are not sufRciently 

 estimated, either as mingled with the usual food, or as an occasional 

 medicine. All herbivorous animals are fond of it. It increases both 

 the appetite and the digestion. Cattle will greedily eat bad forage 

 that has been sprinkled with it, in preference to the best fodder with- 

 out salt; and it seems now to be a well-ascertained fact, that domes- 

 ticated animals of all kinds thrive under its use, and are better able 

 to discharge the duties required from them. 



The consideration of this induced the use of salt in various com- 

 plaints, and especially in the rot, which is an affection of one of the 

 most important of the digestive organs; and it has not deceived the 

 expectations that were raised as to its sanative power. 



As, however, the rot is a disease accompanied by so much debility, 

 and wasting of flesh as well as of strength, tonics and aromatics are 

 usually mingled with the salt; but first of all the bowels are evacu- 

 ated by some of the usual purgatives, and the Epsom salts are the 

 best. The following prescription should then be tried : — 



RECIPE (No. 10). 

 JiTizture for the Rot— Take, common salt, eiprht ounces; powdered gentian, two 

 ounce? ; jciiigor, one ounce ; tincture of Colombo, four ounces: put the whole into a 

 quart bottle, and add water so as to fill the bottle. 



A table-spoonful of this mixture should be given morning and night 

 for a week, and then the following mixture may be given at night, 

 while the former is continued in the morning, and by which the 

 flukes will be destroyed, as the worms in the bronchial tubes some- 

 times are in the hoose of young cattle. 



RECIPE (No. 11). 

 Second Mixture for the Rot.— Taku, of recipe No. 10 (above), a quart ; spirit of tur- 

 pentine, three ounces : shako them well together when first mixed, and whenever ths 

 medicine is given. Two table-spoonfuls are the usual dose. 



The morning dose should be given on an empty stomach, and the 

 evening dose before the night's feed is given, if the animal is housed. 



All the hay should be salted, and some have recommended that 

 even the pasture should be impregnated with salt. This is easily 

 managed. A little plot of ground may be selected, or a portion of a 

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