DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 575 



suck with great avidity when the teat or bottle is brought ta 

 them, and in this way they may be kept alive for two or three 

 weeks ; but if they are not supplied with milk from a bottle or 

 otherwise, they soon die, and when afflicted with this disease 

 they always die in the long run, generally as a direct conse- 

 quence of the disease, but sometimes also as a result of falling 

 into some ditch, pit, or pond. 



Dr. Unwin, who had a lamb suflfering in this way under 

 observation in his paddock for nearly a fortnight, observed that 

 the little animal was capable of eating and drinking when food 

 was brought to it as freely as a healthy lamb, that it was quite 

 conscious, and had no cough or difficulty in breathing, and that 

 its excretions looked normal. Yet it could not stand, but would 

 struggle and kick violently as it lay on its side. There was 

 apparently no loss of sensation, for the prick of a pin applied to 

 each of its extremities could be felt. If placed on its feet, the 

 little creature immediately dropped on its side, and tremors and 

 choreic movements would come on and continue for some time. 

 Grazing, while the animal lay in this recumbent position, was 

 out of the question. 



The malady may, it is said, sometimes terminate in the joints 

 becoming enlarged owing to the accumulation of pus in them, 

 and pus may also appear along the course of the spine* 

 This, however, may be really pyaemia occurring in connection 

 with suppuration of the remains of the umbilical cord. The 

 disease has been known to break out on some farms for many 

 years, being more prevalent in some years than in others. It 

 was rather general in and near Dunchurch, and it seemed to 

 aflfect chiefly the lambs of ewes which had recently been imported 

 from Scotland. In the spring of the year 1884 some farmers 

 lost two or three lambs, whilst others lost dozens. 



It seems that the disease for the most part occurs in the off- 

 spring of ewes of the black-faced horned Scotch and Cheviot 

 breeds recently brought from Scotland, by home-bred rams, 

 although at times an ewe of the country may also bring forth 

 lambs affected with the disease. One home-bred ram was allowed 

 to run with 50 or 60 ewes, but the lambs were weakly, and' 

 frightful losses occurred from sheep-rot. In order to obviate 

 this liability, the above-mentioned foreign ewes were imported,, 

 and about the same number of ewes were run with each ram as 



