SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 247 



toms and the post-mortem appearances were almost identical, no grubs 

 were to be seen. For this reason, and others which I shall assign when 

 treating of grub in the head, I conclude that the popular opinion is erro- 

 neous. 



THE RDT. The existence and prevalence of the Rot in the United 

 States have been sufficiently alluded to in Letter XIV. Notwithstanding 

 its comparative rareness here, so far as is known, at present, I think it 

 expedient to give a full description of it. It may be more prevalent 

 hereafter, or it may be found peculiar to localities where sheep have not 

 yet been introduced. And whether so or not, as its existence will often 

 be feared and suspected in diseased flocks, it is proper that the flock- 

 master always have it in his power to clearly identify this terrible des- 

 troyer. 



The diagnosis of the disease is thus given by Mr. Spoon er.* 



" The first symptoms attending this disease are by no means strongly marked ; there is 

 no loss of condition, but rather apparently the contrary ; indeed, sheep intended for the 

 butcher have been purposely colhed or rotted in order to increase their fattening propertiea 

 for a few weeks, a practice which was adopted by the celebrated Bakewell. A want of 

 liveliness and paleness of the membranes generally may be considered as the first symptoms 

 of the disease, to which may be added a yellowness of the caruncle at the corner of the 

 eye. Dr. Harrison observes, ' when in warm, sultry or rainy weather, sheep that are grazing 

 on low and moist lands feed rapidly, and some of them die suddenly, there is fear that they 

 have contracted the rot.' This suspicion will be farther increased if, a few weeks afterward, 

 the sheep begin to shrink and become flaccid about the loins. By pressure about the hips at 

 this time a crackling is perceptible now or soon afterward, the countenance looks pale, and 

 upon parting the fleece the skin is found to have changed its vermilion tint for a pale red, 

 and the wool is easily separated from the pelt; and as the disorder advances the skin be- 

 comes dappled with yellow or black spots. To these symptoms succeed increased dullness, 

 loss of condition, greater paleness of the mucous membranes, the eyelids becoming almost 

 white and afterward yellow. This yellowness extends to other parts of the body, and a 

 watery fluid appears tinder the skin, which becomes loose and flabby, the wool coming off 

 readily. The' symptoms of dropsy often extend over the body, and sometimes the sheep 

 becomes checkered, as it is termed a large swelling forms under the jaw, which, from the 

 appearances of the fluid it contains, is in some places called the watery poke. The duration 

 of the disease is uncertain ; the animal occasionally dies shortly after becoming affected, but 

 more frequently it extends to from -three to six months, the sheep gradually losing flesh and 

 pining away, particularly if, as is frequently the case, an obstinate purging supervenes." 



Mr. Youatt thus describes the post-mortem appearances : t 



" When a rotted sheep is examined after death, the whole cellular tissue is found to be 

 mfiltrated, and a yellow serous fluid everywhere follows the knife. The muscles are soft 

 and flabby : they have the appearance of being macerated. The kidneys are pale, flaccid, 

 and infiltrated. . The mesenteric glands enlarged, and engorged with yellow serous fluid. 

 The belly is frequently filled with water or purulent matter; the peritoneum is everywhere 

 thickened, and the bowels adhere together by means of an unnatural growth. The heart 

 is enlarged and softened, and the lungs are filled with tubercles. The principal alterations 

 of structure .are in the liver. It is pale, livid, and broken down with the slightest pressure ; 

 and on being boiled it will almost dissolve away. When the liver is not pale, it is often 

 curiously spotted. In some cases it is speckled like the back of a toad. Nevertheless, some 

 parts of it are hard and schirrous ; others are ulcerated, and the biliary ducts are filled with 

 flukes. Here is the decided seat of disease, and it is here that the nature of the malady is 

 to be learned. It is inflammation of the liver. . . . The liver attracts the principal alien- 

 tion of the examiner : it displays the evident effects of acute and destructive inflammation ; 

 and still more plainly the ravages of the parasite with which its ducts are crowded. Here 

 is plainly the original seat of the disease the center whence a destructive influence spreads 

 on every side. . . . The Fluke the Fasciola of Linnajus the Distoma hepaticum ut 

 Rhodolphi the Planaria of Goese is found in the biliary ducts of the sheep, the goat, the 

 deer, the ox, the horse, the ass, the hog, the dog, the rabbit, the guinea-pig, and various 

 other animals, and even in the human being. It is from three quarters of an inch n an inch 

 and a quarter in length, and from one-third to half an inch in greatest breadth. 



* Spooner, p. 391, et supra. 

 t Youatt, p. 447, et supra. 



