ROT. 379 



the bile and all the serous fluids of a yellow color, and, 

 on account of the debilitating nature of the disease, a 

 large quantity of the exudative matter is found in the 

 belly and chest. There is one appearance that will never 

 deceive: the liver is not of that pale and I would say 

 cooked appearance which is usually presented after ordi- 

 nary "Hepatitis," but in most cases all covered with 

 livid spots not unlike the mottled appearance of the lungs 

 of cattle that have died of epizootic pleuro-pneumonia. 

 In a word, the liver is the only true seat of this disease. 



Cause. — The cause of this disease, until lately, was 

 often a surmise and supposition. Then the question 

 arose why it has been a precept with careful shepherds 

 not to let the sheep graze on dewy grass, or wet and 

 marshy land ? Why the dew and wet land was consid- 

 ered so dangerous none could tell, and least of all the 

 bucolic guardian. Although unable to give a reason 

 why, he could aver and prove that it was so. The 

 rational is, that many creatures pass the early portion of 

 their predatory existence in the bodies of one species of 

 animal, and their maturity in another. Their eggs are 

 deposited in the former, but are not developed until ex- 

 pelled and cast upon the earth or manure-heap to shift 

 for themselves. 



They lie on the smoking dung-pile or such places, 

 and far away from the sheep, in which they can find food 

 and develop themselves. The rain washes them into the 

 earth, or they are carried to the fields with the manure. 

 The humidity serves to develop them: they fix them- 

 selves upon the moist grass, and with it these tiny eno- 

 tozoa are carried into the stomachs of the sheep. Once 

 there, their work is soon accomplished. 



Treatment. — The successful treatment of this disease 



