GOITRE IN CALVES AND LAMBS. 455 



Treatment by injection of thyroid juice or by feeding on thyroid 

 extract has given better results than drugs. 



The following account of an outbreak in New Zealand is sum- 

 marised from the Annual Eeport of the Chief Veterinarian of New 

 Zealand, 1901 :— 



The calves afifected were born with enlarged thyroids. The farm is 

 of rich alluvial deposit, and rather below the level of the river, which it 

 borders. The land has been in occupation, however, for many years, 

 and no similar condition had been previously noted. At first, as calves 

 only were afifected, it was thought possibly to be due to the bull, a two- 

 year-old animal, but when a foal was born suffering from a similar mal- 

 formation this theory naturally fell to the ground. 



The land had been ploughed with a special plough 20 inches 

 deep, but this is no uncommon practice in the island. 



About the same time, a similar disease was discovered affecting 

 lambs at a farm near Outram. From 450 ewes, 150 lambs had been 

 lost, the glands being enlarged to the size of a cricket ball. A few 

 had been born dead, many only lived a few hours, others lived several 

 days, and a considerable number recovered. There was no connection, 

 directly or indirectly, between the two farms, they being at least fifty 

 miles apart. A few of the calves died or were killed, the remainder 

 recovered, and the foal grew rapidly better. The land on both farms 

 is very similar in composition. 



Mr. Wilkie states, from observation of previous cases in lambs, that 

 " it appears to be always associated with malnutrition and a condition of 

 anaemia in the parent, induced in most cases by feeding with watery, 

 innutritious foods." 



Specimens were forwarded, from a calf and from a lamb, of enlarged 

 glands. The gland of the calf was enormously enlarged, being at least 

 twice the size of an orange, dark in colour, flabby in consistency, and 

 on section a mucous material exuded co^^iously from the cut surface. 

 Micro-examination showed the acini to be larger than normal, filled with 

 the usual mucous material, and lined with cubical epithelium. The 

 connective tissue surrounding the alveoli was, however, crowded with 

 round-cells, so much so that the whole parenchyma seemed to be 

 practically composed of these cells. 



A specimen of an enlarged thyroid from the lamb was about the size 

 of a sheep's kidney, and very much the same shape and colour. Sections 

 microscopically examined showed a different condition to that of the 

 calf's thyroid. Here the acini were filled with epithelial cells loosely 

 arranged as if the lining epithelium had been proliferating rapidly, 

 while the connective tissue surrounding the acini was fairly normal. 

 The section had a somewhat adenomatous appearance. 



