222 SHEEP HUSBANDRY IX THE SOUTH. 



ai:ds — and in 1830-1, the number swept off much exceeded two millions.* 

 Its ravages are equally fatal in GeiTnany, and more so in Egypt. It is 

 also common in France, Spain, Australia, &c. There is nothing sufficient- 

 ly marked in its diagnosis to effectually distinguish it from some other div 

 eases, to a person possessing no previous practical acquaintance with it 

 or no more veterinary knowledge than is common among farmers ; and 

 when a slow train of wasting symptoms have occurred, and the structure 

 of the liver is found disorganized, after death, it is not uncommon in this 

 country to pronounce it a case of the rot. The same mistake, according 

 to Dr. Coventry (late Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edin- 

 burgh), is often made by even the shepherds and flock-masters of Europe.^ 

 There are other diseases besides the rot which specifically attack the in- 

 tegrity of the liver. Even Jasciola or flukes in the liver, the most infalli- 

 ble diagnostic, to the common eye, of the rot, also, according to Dr. Cov- 

 entry, accompany hepatitis chronica. I will not take upon me to deny tha 

 ;he rot ever exists in the Northern States, but I have yet to see, or hear 

 of, adequately authenticated, the first undoubted instance ; and this would 

 go to show that if isolated cases of it do sometimes occur, it has dwindled 

 from the wholesale destroyer of Europe to an obscure and occasional dis- 

 ease. The same remarks apply to existence of the disease in the Southern 

 Atlantic and Gulf Slates, judging from the statements of my correspond- 

 ents, and from the agricultural newspapers. I cannot learn from either 

 of these sources that anything analogous to this malady is common in those 

 States. According to Mr. Cockerel, of Tennessee, and Mr. Flower, of Illi- 

 nois, the rot does prevail in our- Western States ; and the latter gentleman, 

 who has, I presume, seen the disease in Europe, and who ought therefore 

 to be familiar with its frcR-mortem and post-mortem appearances, states 

 that it occurs in Southern Illinois " from suffering sheep to pasture on land 

 that is overflowed with water ;" and he adds, " even a crop of green oats, 

 early in the fall before a frost comes, has been known to rot young sheep." 



It is worthy of remark that Mr. Livingston — equally distinguished foi 

 research and observation — does not include the rot in his list of American 

 ovine diseases. This affords a strong corroboration of the position I have 

 assumed in relation to the existence of this disease in the North-easten: 

 States, and those of the Southern ones lying east of the Apalachians.J 



The Hoof-ail, though introduced here by contagion, and kept in constant 

 existence by the same means, does not appear, in the common phrase, tc 

 originate spontaneously, as in Europe ; or, in other words, to be excited by 

 any other causes than contagion. I have never known an instance going, 

 even coloiably, to prove the contrary of this proposition. 



Acute dropsy or Red-water, 1 judge to be an exceedingly rare disease in 

 the Northern States, though the author of the American Shepherd thinks 

 differently.il 



Enteretis, or inflammation of the coats of the intestines ; blain, or in- 

 flammation of the cellular tissue of the tongue ; and a whole train of other 

 diseases — including most of the frightful list of infectious or contagious 

 European epizootics — seem to be unknown in this country. 



Why there should be so wide a difference between the ovine nosology 

 of Europe and the United States, is a matter of curious and interesting 

 speculation. Whether it will always remain so, or whether the advent of 



• Youatt on Sheep, p. 44r). 



t See rcmnrks of Dr. Coventry, quoted at some length in Mountain Shepherd's Manual, p. 20. 



J 1 limit the remark to the States lying (mostly) east of these mountains, because they would probabW 

 De the only one?, at the time at which Ml-. Livingston wrote, with the Sheep Husbaudry of wuich he woul# 

 r-e supposed to be familiar. 



II American Shepherd, p. 359. 



