594 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



immune. Where the disease is fully developed it is exces- 

 sively fatal, and runs a very rapid course. 



Infection like that of quarter-evil cannot be conveyed 

 through the alimentary canal, but may readily be conveyed 

 by subcutaneous inoculation. 



The disease principally occurs in the late autumn and 

 early winter months, and disappears before the winter is 

 over. 



The poison is probably introduced into the system 

 through the fouling of the ground caused by the bodies of 

 infected animals being left unburied, and their excreta 

 not destroyed. The spores are most resistant, and 

 Professor Hamilton of Aberdeen, who has published * the 

 most recent researches on this subject, regards these being 

 carried about by wind and in other ways, as a common 

 source of infection. One thing seems quite clear, and that 

 is infection by the mouth is very unlikely, for experimental 

 enquiry has always failed to induce the disease by this 

 channel. 



LOUPING-ILL. 



This is a curious and obscure epizootic disease only 

 affecting sheep ; it is common in many parts of Scotland 

 and Northumberland, but not known south of the latter 

 county. It does not affect large areas, but attaches itself 

 to certain districts, though a fence may separate affected 

 from non-affected pastures. 



It appears to be a purely nervous disorder attacking the 

 muscles of the head, neck, and limbs, and finally producing 

 complete paralysis.f 



It is confined to certain months of the year, lasting from 

 the middle of April to the beginning of June, and then 

 vanishes for a year. If the affected flock be removed from 

 the pastures and others put on they will contract the 



* Transactions of the Highland and Agricultural Society, vol. xiii., 

 1901. 



f McPadyean, on whose article in the Journal of the Boyal 

 Agricultural Society, vol. v., 1894, these remarks are based. 



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