DISEASES OP THE OX AND SHEEP. 239 



rich one, or from dry, good food, to that which is watery and not 

 ripe. In fact, animals in poor condition, if placed upon rich 

 keep, are very liable to anthrax, especially, of course, if they 

 do not get sufficient exercise, as may be the case, for example, if 

 sheep are folded on turnips, or if stall-fed cattle are supplied 

 with too much food. Even a more steady advance of condition 

 is not without danger, especially if the animals are confined for 

 space, being folded on turnips, as above-mentioned, or enclosed 

 on a rich pasture, or allowed artificial nutriment in order to be 

 fit for slaughter at an early time. Indeed, strange as it may at 

 first sight seem, anthrax is most frequently met with where the 

 land is best and most nourishing, and it also attacks the most 

 thriving animals. 



On some fields in which braxy broke out some time ago, de- 

 stroying many valuable sheep, the animals had been having too 

 large an allowance of cake and oats. In this outbreak two doses 

 of medicine were administered to each member of the flock, the 

 food was reduced in amount, and no further deaths occurred. 

 It is especially when the food contains a large amount of nitro- 

 genous matter that it is apt to favour the development of 

 anthrax. When the change of food is sudden, as from a very 

 poor to a rich diet, it may be pointed out that the over-highly 

 nitrogenised influx into the blood favours the growth and de- 

 velopment of the germs of the disease. The germs of anthrax 

 may be transmitted by means of food or of water, and it seems 

 to be the case that there is much liability of the propagation of 

 the disease if animals be fed on fermenting grains. 



Again, shepherds well know that when the moon is at the 

 full the sheep are apt to rove about and stray, refraining from 

 lying down to rest and chew the cud and digest the food that 

 has been eaten during the day. On the contrary, they may 

 at times engorge themselves, and when the morning comes may 

 be found helpless, struck down with braxy. Many deaths 

 among sheep occur when the moon is full. On the other 

 hand, dark, cold, and stormy nights are often attended with a 

 fearful mortality. 



We may allude to ill-drained crew-yards, to the contamina- 

 tion of food or water with the germs which have emanated 

 from the carcases of animals dead of anthrax ; and also to 

 the fact that flies, without being themselves much injured 



