ROT. 



diment, the ravages of this dreadful disease ' 

 might either be very materially modified, or 

 perhaps entirely prevented. 



Many years since, Ellis, in his Practical Hus- 

 bandry, recommended the use of salt, mixed 

 with wort, in which had been boiled sage, 

 pennyroyal, wormwood, shepherd's purse, com- 

 frey, &c., as a prevention of the rot; 7 or 8 

 spoonfuls was the dose, once a week after 

 April, whenever the weather was wet. 



More than three centuries since, Fitzherbert, 

 the earliest of the English agricultural writers, 

 alluded to this dreadful disorder in his Boke of 

 Hntli'tmlnj, and in his section entitled What 

 thynges rotteth Shepe, he says, " It is necessary 

 that a shepherde shoulde knowe what thynge 

 rotteth shepe, that he myghte kepe theym the 

 better. There is a grasse called sperewort, 

 and hath a longe narrow leafe lyke a spere 

 heed, and it wyll growe a fote hyghe, and bear- 

 eth a yellowe floure in lowe places where the 

 water is used to stande in wynter. An other 

 grasse is called peny grasse, and growethe 

 lowe by the erthe in a marshe grounde, and 

 hath a leafe as brode as a peny or two pence, 

 and neuer beareth floure. All manner of 

 grasse, that the lande floudde runneth ouer, is 

 very evylle for shepe, bycause of the sande 

 and fylihe that stycheth uppon it. All moorish 

 grounde and marsche grounde is yll for shepe. 

 The grasse that groweth upon falowes is not 

 good for shepe, for there moche of it wede, and 

 ofte tymes it commeth uppe by the rote, and that 

 bryngeth erthe with it, and they eate both, &c. 

 Myldewe grasse is not good for shepe, and that 

 ye shall knowe two wayes : one is by the leaves 

 on the trees in the morninge, and specially of 

 okes; take the leaves and putte thy tongue to 

 them, and thou shall fcle like hony uppon them. 

 And also there will be many kelles uppon the 

 grasse, and that causeth the myldewe, where- 

 fore theye may not well be left out of the folde, 

 tyll the sonne have domination to drye them 

 awuve. Also hunger rotle is the worst rotte 

 that can be, for there is neither goode fleshe nor 

 goode skynne, and that comethe for lacke of 

 meate, and so for hunger they eate suche as 

 they can fynde, and so will not pasture shepe, 

 for they seldom rot but wythe myldewes, and 

 than wyll they have much talowe and fleshe, 

 and a good skyn. Also white snailes be yll for 

 shepe in pastures, and in falowes there is an 

 other rotte whiche is called pelte rotte, and that 

 commeth of greatte wete, speciallye in woode 

 countryes where they cannolpdrye." 



The symptoms of the rot, and of some of its 

 most decided remedies, have been thus de- 

 scribed by Dr. Brown, of Boston (Mag. of Nat. 

 Hist. vol. v. p. 98), " It cannot, I conceive, be 

 demonstrated that in this disease the bile is 

 thrown back upon the system, and mingles 

 with the circulating fluid; for in the early 

 stages there is no obstruction to the bile ; and 

 in the latter, what little is secreted is inter- 

 cepted by the flukes on the hepatic side of the 

 gall-bladder. The eye, which some persons 

 take to be an index to the bilious condition of 

 the system, has really not that ' tinge of yellow 

 and jaundiced-like appearance' at the com- 

 mencement of the disease. On the contrary, 

 the peculiar whiteness of the eyes is the first 



ROT. 



symptqm which guides the shepherd to the tin- 

 welcome truth. If the bile ducts be carefully 

 examined in the earliest stage of the complaint, 

 there will be found a few flukes in the duct 

 which conveys the bile from the gall-bladder to 

 the intestine, but none in the gall-bladder, and 

 none beyond it, a sound liver, no 'tubercles/ 

 no 'abscesses,' and withal a fine, fat, healthy- 

 looking carcass. If it be in the latest stage 

 when the examination is made, the gall-blad- 

 der will be found filled with flukes instead of 

 bile: and the animals will be seen making 

 their way up those channels which convey the 

 bile from the liver to the gall-bladder, arresting 

 it in its course, and pressing forward and en- 

 larging the biliary tubes. Thus, when but few 

 of these animals have possession of this viscus, 

 its function is not materially impaired ; the 

 parenchyma, or substance of the liver, is un- 

 altered in appearance; the mucous channels, 

 which convey the bile to the gall-bladder, and 

 from the gall-bladder to the intestines, have 

 not yet fell their presence, and the bile itself is 

 secreted apparently unaltered in quality or 

 quantity : but here, as they live in a medium 

 of perpetual nourishment, they multiply to an, 

 extent incredible, and impede the natural action 

 of the liver and subordinate organs of the 

 body. They at length completely block up the 

 conduits of the bile, devouring the bile as fast 

 as it is secreted ; spreading irritation and dis- 

 ease from the vessels in which they live to the 

 whole mass of the liver itself; and in some in- 

 stances they carve their way through the mem- 

 brane which encircles them, and escape by 

 myriads into the cavity of the abdomen; thus 

 completing the destruction of an important 

 organ, and with it the life of the animal. These 

 extreme states are generally associated with 

 dropsy and a total degeneracy of the muscular 

 tissue ; the blood is deficient in quantity, very 

 serous, and almost destitute of fibrin. A cor- 

 respondent inquires the class and family of the 

 fluke, in hopes of finding u rcmnly for a disease 

 so fatal. He will find it in the class Vermes, 

 and order Intestina, and it is the Fascwla hepd- 

 tica. Contemplating it, as it is, as a variety of 

 exotic worm, it occurred to me that vermi- 

 fuges, destructive to other species, might be 

 employed with advantage against this. But in 

 instituting experiments on the living animals, 

 I discarded those popular remedies which have 

 only a mechanical action, and which could 

 never reach the liver, for those which operate 

 by a wider range of influence. What I have 

 observed is, that there are in this class of re- 

 medies those which have little or no effect 

 when brought in contact with the living fluke ; 

 and there are others which destroy the animal 

 immediately. To the first of those which are 

 inert, "belong solutions of vegetable bitters, 

 spirits of tar, and several others, which need 

 not be enumerated. To the second, or to those 

 which destroy the animal, belong solutions of 

 mercury and the spirits of turpentine. For 

 example : a little calomel suspended in water, 

 and dropped upon the animal, quickly deprives 

 it of life; and a drop of the spirits of turpen- 

 tine kills it in a few seconds. The oil of tur- 

 pentine is a deadly poison to the fluke. The 

 next consideration is, how far it may be safe 



955 



