306 



Rot in Sheep. 



Vol. V. 



feeding on aquatic plants, indigenous to low 

 or moist pastures. Amongst those who en- 

 terlain this latter opinion, is Mr. William 

 Hogg, who, for more than half a century, was 

 engaged in the occupation of a shepherd, and 

 •whose testimony is deserving the most seri- 

 ous regard. 



He says, — " For more than half a century 

 I have been engaged in the manan^ement of 

 eheep, and during that period I have not been 

 inattentive to the misfortunes, the evils, and 

 the ailments to which they are Lable, and 

 amongst the rest, the rot has not a little oc- 

 cupied my attention; and with the greater 

 assurance I can point out its symptoms, its 

 progress, and termination, for I resided a long 

 time on a farm where it was the prevailing 

 disease, and from which, all who were con- 

 nected with the concern dreaded the greatest 

 annual loss. Disease in sheep is ofen caused 

 or strengthened by improper maiagement, 

 and none is more easily engendered by harsh 

 treatment than the rot: from this cause it is 

 often difficult to determine whetheiit proceed 

 from the morbid qualities of the stil, or from 

 some adventitious event in the aninal's life.* 

 But, after all, I lay it down as a position that 

 need not be controverted, that the:>riginal or 

 pre-disposing cause of the rot exsts in the 

 qualities of the pasture; it is his which 

 marks the peculiarities of the cmstitution, 

 and gives that flow of spirits whici actuates 

 the animal and adjusts every movement in 

 the system. Pastures which ab<und with 

 soft, flashy nourishment dispose to'his disor- 

 der ; grasses of this description spmg early, 

 are rank and juicy, and are eaten agerly at 

 that season when other green herbge is ab- 

 sent; the scarcity of verdure, anc its own 

 succulence, induce the sheep to et it very 

 close to the surface; the soil, vigrous and 

 strong, pushes constantly forward rare of the 

 delicious and deleterious sward, ye not until 

 late in the season does it attain lixuriance, 

 as the stock constantly keep it bar. Other 

 grasses, more firm and consistent in he blade, 

 at last arise, but they are coarser, aid in pro- 

 portion as they are so, are rejectee and the 

 soft, tatky verdure still constitutes 'he prin- 

 cipal portion of their food ; the aniral's taste 

 by degrees is perverted — it can tbn relish 

 no other food than this washy sutenance, 

 which imparts no consistence or vigur to the 

 muscular and more essential parts oithebody, 

 and all its influence is directed to th increase 

 of the viscera, and every inabilit arising 

 from constant repletion : the stotach and 

 bowels increasing to an extraordiary bulk, 

 become an unmanageable weight, to heavy 



* How often we witness this inveteratelisease, as 

 well as the scab, cleave to the flock for mny months 

 after a sea-voyage, and from which man never re- 

 cover ! 



for the constituent parts to carry about with 

 that facility necessary to its thriving, and by 

 degrees the animal acquires a bad shape; the 

 belly and hind-quarters become heavy and 

 lumpish, the fore-quarters low, nttrrow, and 

 contracted ; the lungs are obstructed in their 

 full play, and often one of the lobes adheres 

 to the ribs, and this farther impedes their mo- 

 tion ; at every respiration the cells of that 

 master organ are neither sufficiently ///erf or 

 emptied, and for want of this vital air the 

 blood is tainted ; every extraneous humour 

 increases, a general debility prevails, and 

 symptoms of a confirmed rot appear. And 

 the feeding on this raw, immature sustenance 

 to such excess, as sheep once habituated to it 

 ordinarily do, opens another way for the in- 

 troduction of this disease ; the fluid contained 

 in the unripe food engenders a great deal of 

 serum in the abdomen, which is diffused 

 through many parts of the body, and this not 

 being a natural fluid, further debilitates the 

 constitution ; the animal lounges about on the 

 soft, tathy spots, when the general waste of 

 body falls into a morbid tumour under the 

 chin, called the poke ; a violent diarrhoea then 

 appears, and the poor creature dies misera- 

 bly. And feeding on such unwholesome 

 grass, to the exclusion of every other kind 

 of food, confines the animal on such low, 

 damp spots as produce it; here, at every in- 

 spiration, plenty of rank miasma is drawn in, 

 which settles in the lungs, and loads their 

 cells with a phlegmy, viscid matter which 

 with difficulty is coughed up, especially when 

 the animal is excited to motion — a consump- 

 tion is then completely formed, for which 

 there may be said to be no cure. 



" The symptoms of the rot are these. About 

 the latter end of February or beginning of 

 March, the wool loses its healthy colour, be- 

 comes bleached and dead like; then follows 

 considerable prostration of strength ; late in 

 leaving the tathy spots of pasture, and early 

 on the next morning, and probably would not 

 leave at all, if not urged away by the shep- 

 herd ; falls back in the ranks when the shep- 

 herd moves them forward ; a sullen, lustre- 

 less eye, looking steadfastly at the shepherd, 

 with an cedematous swelling under the chin. 

 When dissected after death, the internal 

 symptoms are, lungs entirely wasted, often 

 hanging like empty bags; liver, in every 

 case that I have ever seen, increased to an 

 extraordinary weight and size, studded all 

 over with hard white spots; cut any of its 

 ducts, and the fluke-worms issue out by hun- 

 dreds, immersed in a bilious-like liquor. 

 These creatures I consider the consequence 

 and not the cause of the rot ; their extraor- 

 dinary increase being no doubt oicing to the I 

 diseased state of the liver, in which they I 

 multiply to such immense numbers as to ac- ! 



