122 The Common Liver Fntozoon of Cattle. 



months, attains a higher organization, at last becoming con- 

 verted into the sexually mature Fasciola hejpatica. It then 

 gains access to the liver ducts, passes into the common biliary- 

 outlet, or ductus choledicus communis, from thence is trans- 

 ferred into the intestinal canal, being finally expelled from its 

 vertebrate host in the manner previously described. 



If due consideration be awarded to the conclusions above 

 given, it will at once be perceived that the multitude of reme- 

 dies which are daily administered to sheep for the cure of the 

 rot, or cachexia aqiwsa, can prove of little avail. Every year 

 we hear of the adoption, often with enthusiasm, of new so- 

 called specifics, or of ancient medicines whose employment had 

 long fallen into desuetude. Thus, for example, in the April 

 number of the Journal des Veterinaires du Midi for 1860, 

 we find M. Kaynaud strongly recommending soot, in doses of 

 from one to three spoonfuls, to be followed up by the adminis- 

 tration of a grain of lupin for tonic purposes. In like manner 

 we have received from France wonderful accounts of the me- 

 dicinal virtues of a certain foetid oleaginous compound, the 

 value of which has been lately put to a fair test by our distin- 

 guished veterinarian, Professor Simonds. This last-named 

 gentleman having with infinite care and trouble undertaken a 

 series of experiments with the nauseating remedy in question, 

 informs us, in the Scottish Farmer and Horticulturist, as a 

 result of his inquiries, that he fears "we must conclude that 

 this supposed cure of rot in sheep has proved quite ineffective 

 for good in our experience." 



It is not now proposed to enter into details respecting the 

 genetic relations of Fasciola hejpatica j but the writer begs 

 to inform estate-owners, agriculturists, sheep-farmers, stock- 

 masters, and all other parties interested in the welfare of flocks 

 and in the production of cheap and wholesome food, that a 

 true solution of this important economic question, in so far 

 as it relates to the production of healthy meat, can only be 

 obtained by the further prosecution of our experimental re- 

 searches. In this attitude only can we ultimately hope to 

 achieve a certain knowledge of the means of preventing, if 

 not of entirely eradicating, this fearful disease ; and the writer 

 confesses that it seems to him strange that the cost of these 

 necessary experiments should hitherto, in this country at least, 

 have exclusively rested with those who have given much time, 

 aided by such talents as they may possess, to practically scien- 

 tific inquiries. On independent grounds he has himself, year 

 by year, sought to throw light upon the origin and develop- 

 ment of the various internal parasites which either annoy or 

 destroy our valuable animals ; and as, in some instances, these 

 experiments have proved eminently instructive, he cannot avoid 



