The Rot in Sheep. 



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free absorption in augmented quantities of the fatty matter of 

 the chyme. 



The liver may thus be regarded as the great regulator of the 

 amount of sugar and fatty matter in the blood, any excess of 

 which, not being required to support animal heat, accumulates 

 in the various tissues of the body. If this be so, the more active 

 the secretory function of the liver, the greater will be the amount 

 of sugar and fat absorbed from the food. 



It is to be remembered that irritation simply increases the 

 normal function of a gland ; but that inflammation, on the 

 contrary, alters the character of its secretion. The entrance of 

 recently developed flukes into the biliary ducts, acts for a time, 

 as has been previously explained, as a local irritant only, and as 

 such, the liver is kept in a state of activity, so that in turn more 

 fat is deposited in the tissues. Thus it appears that the placing 

 of sheep on good grazing, but rot-giving pastures, may prove 

 not to be immediately an unprofitable proceeding. 



The time for the accumulation of fat having passed, the 

 animal begins to lose condition. The entozoa have now turned 

 the scale. They have laid the foundation for structural changes 

 and impaired function of the liver. The bile is gradually 

 changed in quantity and quality, and the liver can no longer 

 efficiently maintain its office of a sugar-forming organ, or an 

 elaborator of fibrine. Imperfect chylification is a necessary 

 accompaniment, and the blood soon lacks purity, quality, and 

 quantity likewise, for its development is restricted. The same 

 amount of food which had sufficed to support, or to give increase 

 of bulk to the body, cannot now minister even to the growing 

 wants of the system. These changes in the condition of the 

 animal may have insidiously crept on ; they are, however, none 

 the less, but rather the more serious on that account. 



Unmistakable evidences of rot will doubtless be exhibited 

 sooner or later, depending on the character of the soil — whether 

 it be wet or dry, and on the amount of nutritive and saline matters 

 contained in the food which is daily supplied to the animals. 

 When these are small and the soil retentive of moisture, the 

 malady will proceed with great rapidity. In general, however, 

 its progress is slow, and, as time passes, the wasting of the animal 

 becomes more and more perceptible. The placing of the hand 

 on the back will now show that the muscles on each side of the 

 vertebra? are so attenuated, that the spinous processes of the bones 

 project above them. The animal, in common language, is 

 " razor-backed." The same leanness pervades the entire frame, 

 and everywhere the processes of the bones are more prominent 

 than usual. The general contour of the body is also changed. 

 Often, when the wasting commences, the belly is gaunt, but it 



