THE ROT. 



213 



There appears to be dropsy, not only in the belly, but all over the 

 animal. Wherever the knife is used, a yellovv watery fluid runs 

 out; and the consequence of the existence of this fluid everywhere is, 

 that the muscles, and that which should be firm, honest fat, are yield- 

 ing, and flabby, and unwholesome. When the belly and chest are 

 opened, the heart is pale, and soft, and flabby, and ofteii to such a 

 deo-ree that we wonder how it could have continued to discharge its 

 duty. The lungs are more or less gorged with blood ; and there are 

 a great many hard knotty points, of various sizes (tubercles), in them 

 and on them, some of which have probably broken, and the lungs are 

 full of ulcers ; or when this is not the case, the lungs are studded 

 with innumerable little knotty points of a dark colour. 



The principal disease, however, is in the liver, which is much 

 enlarged, often of double its natural size, broken down by the slight- 

 est touch, sometimes black from inflammation and congested blood, 

 and at other times of an unhealthy lividness : but that which is most 

 remarkable, which is characteristic of the disease, is, that its vessels 

 are filled with JIukes, curiously-shaped things like liMle soles, which 

 are swimming about in the bile in every duct, and burrowing into 

 every part of the liver. Several hundreds of them are sometimes 

 contained in one liver. A few of them may occasionally be found in 

 the upper part of the intestines, but there only. 



The upper part of the liver is frequently speckled like the body of 

 a toad ; indeed this has been so often remarked, that the examiner, if 

 he does not find flukes, and sometimes when he does, looks out for 

 the toad's liver. The liver is so diseased and corrupted, that if an 

 attempt is made to boil it, instead of becoming hardened, it falls all 

 to pieces, or is in a manner dissolved. Abscesses are oftener found 

 in the liver than in the lungs, and to an extent suflicient to destroy 

 the sheep without any other cause. Sometimes there are knots in 

 the liver as well as in the lungs — small, round, hardened lumps — 

 and in a few cases they are so numerous, that it is almost impossible 

 to find a sound part. 



If the farmer would accustom himself to observe these things, and 

 carefully examine every sheep that dies in the aiitumn, he would 

 sometimes detect the existence of this disease in his flock before he 

 would otherwise have been aware of it. Nay, he should not confine 

 his examination to this, but should observe the appearance of the 

 inside of every sheep which he may kill for the use of his family 

 about that time. It should be a practice never omitted, and however 

 seemingly healthy the animal may die, whatever quantity of suet 

 may cover the kidneys, if the liver is dappled with white spots, or if 

 the vessels of the liver are thickened, and if there are flukes, however 

 small, floating about in the bile, that sheep w^as certainly rotted ; and 

 if one sheep is rotted, the greater part of the remainder will probably 

 follow. Aware of this, and at this early period of the disease, the 

 grazier may, either by hastening the fattening process, or shifting the 

 pasture, or adopting medical treatment, put many scores of pounds 

 into his pocket, which would otherwise be irrecoverably lost. 



