The Rot in Sheep. 



27 



laboratory. This we conceive to be an error. We admit the 

 influence of chemistry — few perhaps more so — in many of 

 the changes which are wrought in the animal organism ; but 

 we believe that it is controlled, kept in order, and, so to speak, 

 even directed, by a more potent power, namely, vitality. Vital 

 force, however, we do not hold to be antagonistic to chemical 

 action, but to be in harmony therewith. Nevertheless, it is 

 often diminished, without losing its supremacy, by many in- 

 ternal as well as other causes, especially if these should be of a 

 persistent or irritative character, as, for example, the presence 

 of flukes in the liver. Under such circumstances a continued 

 alteration of the function of one organ will exert a baneful 

 influence to a greater or less degree upon the entire system, and 

 thus lead ultimately to the death of the animal by simply 

 exhausting the vital force. 



Pathology. — Rot an Entozoio Disease. 



When we reflect that the pathology of a disease is to a con- 

 siderable extent elucidated by studying the lesions which are 

 observed post-mortem, it seems difficult to account for the differ- 

 ences of opinion which have prevailed with regard to the nature 

 of rot. It cannot be denied that every investigator of this disease 

 has had at command numerous facilities for observing the state 

 of the organism directly after the death of the affected animal. 

 Nor is this the only advantage he has enjoyed ; for a few 

 visits to the abattoir have sufficed to exhibit specimens of the 

 malady from its earliest beginning to its fatal termination. In 

 slauglitered animals, it is likewise to be remembered, that struc- 

 tural disease is seen in all its exactness. Changes consequent 

 on natural death have not come on, and there is, therefore, no 

 mistaking the real for the unreal. 



The advantage thus possessed by the veterinary pathologist 

 over his medical compeer is considerable. We fear, however, that 

 too many have neglected to obtain such knowledge for themselves, 

 and have been content to adopt the opinions of others, who 

 may perhaps have been equally devoid of practical information. 

 In no other way can we account for the varying statements 

 which have been put forth respecting the pathology of rot. 

 Some writers, for example, describe the disease as being essen- 

 tially an inflammatory affect I on of the liver. Others, on the 

 contrary, view it as a general dropsy associated with chronic 

 disease of the liver and an impure state of the blood, and one 

 author, in particular — a surgeon — has even contended lor its 

 being a tuberculous disorder of the lungs. 



