442 THE DISEASES AND DISOEDEES OF THE OX. 



are formed, while beneath and on the borders of these crusts the 

 parasites thrive and multiply. 



If these crusts are detached, the wool, if it still remains, is 

 readily also removed, while the underlying skin is thickened^ 

 and wrinkled, and fissured, and for a long time in6amed and 

 scaly. The continuance of both the irritation and the rubbing 

 makes matters worse and worse, the wool comes off almost 

 entirely, and even deep sores and obstinate ulcers result. 

 At length the animals may succumb, worn out by exhaustion^ 

 the weakly ones dying even within a few months after the 

 infection. 



It is said that in Germany the loss is seldom less than 10 per 

 cent, of the sheep attacked, and also that the annual loss in 

 France is as much as 5,000,000f., 1,000,000 sheep being affected 

 and depreciated in value to the extent of 5f. each on an average. 

 In this estimate the damage by the -animals becoming emaciated 

 and losing their wool is included. 



The Measures to be Taken in Order to Prevent the 

 Spread of Scabies in Sheep, and to Cure that Disease. 

 — It is at once a strikingly peculiar and most suggestive fact 

 that all kinds of animals are liable to be infested with parasites, 

 and this is true not only concerning the external surface of their 

 bodies, but also of their interior. That animals are attacked by 

 fleas, by lice, and other irritating creatures is a fact more gene- 

 rally known than that in the interior of their bodies they are not 

 Iree from the insidious inroad of divers foes. In the digestive 

 canal tapeworms and other worms may be found. 



We have previously alluded to the flukes, which, by their 

 presence in the livers of sheep, give rise to sheep-rot. We shall 

 soon speak of the worms, which by their presence in the air- 

 tubes bring on verminous bronchitis, and also of that cystic 

 stage of the tapeworm, which, by its growth in the brain,, 

 produces sturdy or turnsick ; and we may also mention in this 

 connection the Filaria sanguinis Jiominis which has been found 

 living in the blood of human beings, and also the trichinse,. 

 which find their way into the muscles of men and women. 

 Indeed, the general subject of parasitism is one of the most 

 intense interest, and the facts we learn from studying it are of 

 immense importance. To this statement the sheep is by no 

 means to be regarded as an exception. In connection with 



