822 PARASITIC DISEASES. 



lu conjunction with the Distomata in the liver, it is not an 

 unusual thing to find other parasites infesting the bodies of sheep. 

 Strongyles in the abomasum, intestines, and lungs, cysticerci, 

 &c. — indeed symptoms similat* to those of rot — are sometimes 

 present independent of the fluke, and tliis circumstance has led 

 some erroneously to conclude that the debilitated condition of 

 the sheep renders it a favourable habitat for the parasite ; that, 

 in fact, the mal-condition induced by damp food is the cause of 

 tlie disease and not the effect, hence it is termed watery cachexia, 

 cachexia aquosa, by some writers. 



It is important that this disease be distinguished in its earliest 

 stages, and in order to enable the sheep-farmer to do this, the 

 following rules are given by Mr. Beattie in the Transactions of 

 the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, vol. iii., 

 1807:— 



" The first thing to be observed is in tlie spring, when they 

 are dropping their lambs. A sound ewe in good order drops a 

 lamb covered with a thick and yellow slime, which the ewe licks 

 off it, and the rule is, the sounder and the higher condition the 

 ewe is in, the darker and thicker will be the slime ; but when 

 they observe a ewe drop a lamb covered with thin watery bubbles, 

 and very white, they note her down as unsound. 



" About the montli of September, when they intend to dispose 

 of their draught ewes, they put all their sheep into a fold, and 

 draw them by the hand ; that is, they catch them all, viz., the 

 ewes they design to sell any of, and clapping their hand upon 

 the small of the back, they rub the flesh backwards and for- 

 wards betwixt their fingers and thumb and the ends of the short 

 ribs. If the flesh is solid and firm, they consider her as sound ; 

 if they find it soft and flabby, and if, when they rub it against 

 the short ribs, it ripples, as we term it — that is, a sort of crackling 

 is perceived — as if there was water or blubber in it, they are 

 certain she is unsound. This is the most certain of all symp- 

 toms, but is not to be discerned with any degree of certainty 

 but by an experienced hand ; for although, as I have here related 

 it, it seems a very simple affair, and easily acquired, yet it is 

 well known that many shepherds, who have followed sheep all 

 their lives, never arrive at anything like certainty in judging by 

 the hand, whilst men of superior skill will seldom be mistaken, 

 and will draw by no other rule. Yet still it must be acknow- 



