226 DISEASES DUE TO INTERNAL PARASITES. 



The fact of this particular oesophagostome being so 

 iniiversally distribiited over large portions of the United States 

 renders the problem of possible infection a hard one to solve. 

 As a matter of economics this disease is worthy of grave consid- 

 -eration; large importations of sausage casings being necessary to 

 supply the home demand. 



€bc Rot. 



This disease has been the cause of greater loss to the flock 

 owners than almost all the others combined, with the exception, 

 perhaps, of sheep scab. Eecords dating back hundreds of years 

 show that in Egypt the disease was most virulent, appearing 

 there annually following the inundation of the banks of the Nile. 

 Beyond a doubt, all cases of rot have arisen from keeping sheep 

 on a wet, swampy soil, they being naturally an inhabitant of dry 

 and lofty situations, and while they have been made to thrive on 

 unsuitable grounds, the perversion of their natural habits ex- 

 poses them to attacks by this most disastrous disease. 



The parasite causing this disease is known as the distoma 

 hepaticum or liver-fluke; and while it is very common and has 

 caused immense losses on the European continent and Great 

 Britain, it has rarely been found affecting American sheep, al- 

 though a few cases have been recorded in the East, on Long 

 Island, also in Louisiana, Texas and California. As a matter of 

 history, it may be stated here that the liver-fluke in Great Britain 

 alone was, until recently, responsible for the loss of 1,000,000 

 sheep and lambs annually, and that in 1830 to 1831 this number 

 was more than doubled, many farmers losing all their flocks, one 

 farmer in the County of Kent losing $15,000 worth of sheep in 

 the course of three months. 



On the continent of Europe its ravages have been fully as 

 great. Its presence has also been felt in Australia, and to a 



