128 



311. Upon no consideration should diarrhcea be stopped suddenly, as 

 it may be due to some hidden ailment, which Nature is trying to relieve 

 in her own way. Treatment : Eight to twelve ounce doses of linseed 

 oil, along with from half to two ounces each of chlorodyne and 

 aromatic spirits of ammonia, may therefore be used in the first stages 

 with great advantage, foUov/ing it up with vegetable and alkaline 

 tonics ; while, at times, the preparations of iron are useful (see Appendix). 

 Good nutritious food, of an easily digestible character, should also be 

 given, such as crushed oats, bran, and linseed cake, milk, and linseed 

 jelly ; and, upon no consideration, should a small quantity of salt be 

 omitted from the food at each end of the day. 



3T2. Where the affection is attributable to worms or flukes, small 

 and repeated doses of oil and turpentine may be administered with 

 great advantage (see Appendix), and the lands should be dressed with 

 salt. The Liver Fluke is a frequent producer of diarrhoea, and often 

 with a fatal result, both in young cattle and sheep. As it is also 

 the cause of a great amount of troublesome litigation amongst 

 neighbours, a sketch of its character may not be out of place here. 

 The Liver Fluke, or Distoniuni Hepaficnni, is of the order Treniatoda, or 

 fiat suctorial worms. It has a very interesting history, passing 

 through seven stages, between fluke and fluke, six of which are 

 accomplished outside ">he body of the sheep, or host. (See Plates 

 XXIII. and XXIV., showing the various stages through which it 

 passes), The flukes are bi-sexual, having both male and female organs 

 in one body, and are generated from little eggs. These eggs are 

 developed inside the parent fluke, — which lies in the bile ducts of the 

 liver of the host, — and are ejected from the parent by one of its 

 openings, and carried by the bile to the intestines, and there eventually 

 carried, ejected, and deposited on the ground in the droppings. As 

 many as 200 flukes have been counted in one liver, whilst the number 

 of eggs generated by these has been reckoned at 7,400,000, or about 

 40,000 to each fluke. The eggs are about yi^ of an inch long, and 

 gig of an inch broad. Mr. A. P. Thomas' summary of the life history 

 is as follows : — 



