131 



many embryos enter one snail, and this results in not only the death of 

 of the host, but in their own as well. As may be inferred from the 

 foregoing extract, the disease is not so rife in dry seasons, but is very 

 common after wet summers. Animals may be affected as early as 

 midsummer, but August, September, and October are the principal 

 months for contamination, and as it takes ten or twelve weeks after 

 the entrance of the pupcv into the liver, before any bad effects are 

 noticed, December, January, and February are therefore the chief 

 months in which flukes are to be seen fully matured. The fluke has 

 been proved, beyond all doubt, to be a fresh-water creature, and, as 

 mentioned previously, the disease is never met with on salt marshes. 

 Therefore, the land should be dressed in Autumn and Spring with 

 salt. The first application being to destroy the snails before they seek 

 their winter shelter, and the latter to annihilate any who may have 

 escaped the previous dressing, as they come to the surface of the ground ; 

 even a weak solution, viz., one ounce of salt to five pints of water, 

 proves fatal. Salt should also be given in the animals' food. These 

 precautions should be especially attended to after wet seasons. 



314. Dysentery, or Bloody Flux, is both acute and c/ironic, and 

 is an inflammatory action of the lining membrane of the bowels, accom- 

 panied by ulceration, and in some cases with extensive diarrhoea, of a 

 thin bubbly character, mixed with blood, and having an offensive smell. 

 It is mostly caused by eating coarse food, grown on undramed and 

 moorland pastures. At one time it was of very frequent occurrence, in 

 feeding bullocks, but of late years has not been nearly so common. 

 Sometimes neglected or chronic diarrhoea may run into this complaint, 

 and, at other times, it is a symptom of Tuberailosis. Treatment : Small 

 doses of linseed oil and chlorodyne should be given, and to these may be 

 added from 30 to 60 drops of oil of cloves, creasote, or carbolic acid. 

 (see Appendix) ; good nutritious and easily digested food is highly 

 necessary, such as milk and linseed jelly to drink two or three times 

 a day. As a rule, however, treatment is very unsatisfactory. 



315. Peritonitis consists of inflammation of the serous membrane, 

 called the peritoneum, which lines the inside walls of the belly and 



