220 VETERINARY LECTURES 



if the lands are well dressed with salt, and the animals given a table- 

 spoonful of salt daily in their food, which should be properly prepared, 

 this disease would in a great measure be prevented. 



329. Braxy, Sheep-Sickness, Strike, etc.— Braxy may be 

 looked upon as a morbid change in the tissues of the body and 

 deterioration of the blood. From numerous investigations, experi- 

 ments, and microscopic examinations by the late Professor Hamil- 

 ton, M.B., F.R.C.S.E., of the Aberdeen University, and others, 

 appointed by the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, and accord- 

 ing to the Report issued by them, there are several other complaints 

 as well as wet, dry, and red braxy to which sheep are prone that are 

 called braxy ; it also appears that braxy proper is considered to be 

 due to the presence of a disease-producing germ, and is of an 

 enzootic character, having an extensive range in certain localities, 

 making itself manifest at certain periods of the year, particularly in 

 the later autumn and winter months, and attacking young sheep, 

 chiefly under twelve months old. It is further stated that the 

 specific bacillus — a spore-bearing germ — was discovered by Neilson 

 in Norway in the year 1888, which discovery has been confirmed by 

 Professor Hamilton in his extensive researches, who also considers 

 that the Gulf Stream has some influence on the prevalence of the 

 disease. The experts report that braxy in sheep, like louping-ill 

 {par. 595), is due to small germs (bacilli) found in the cavity of the 

 belly (peritoneal cavity) and inside of the bowels, and also in other 

 serous cavities, as well as in the blood, but the braxy bacilli differs 

 from all others by being very small and of a delicate outline. 

 Apparently the disease is spread by the bacilli which infest the 

 bowels being deposited on the ground in the excreta of an infected 

 animal, and picked up with the herbage by healthy sheep. When 

 the skin is removed from the dead body of a braxy sheep the 

 carcass gives off a very peculiar odour (braxy smell), and when the 

 flesh is pickled in the brine-tub and dried it is called 'brakshay,' 

 and is much relished by many, having a somewhat venison-like 

 flavour. The investigators found from numerous experiments that 

 by preparing a soup from the disease-producing germs found in the 

 cavity of the belly, and administering it to the lambs at a certain 



