TJte Rot in Sheep. 



15 



in whatever way those worms are produced, the faet is unquestion- 

 able that they are always swarming in the liver of every rotten 

 sheep ; and in proportion as a sheep is far gone in the disease the 

 more numerous do they become ; most certainly the two have 

 some connection with one another, and that no small one, but 

 whether they are the cause or the consequence of the rot remains 

 yet to be determined." 



Davy, in his essay read before the Bath and West of England 

 Society, entitled Observations on the Disease which has lately been 

 so destructive to Sheep, called Bane or Coath, 1830, does little more 

 than reiterate the statements of others with regard to the causes, 

 but dwells chiefly on the enormous losses which were sustained 

 during the year, and on the nature and prevention of the malady. 

 His views of the pathology of rot will be hereafter referred to, 

 as we find that to a great extent they were adopted by some 

 authors of repute who wrote subsequently to his time. 



To show that up to this period little more was known on the 

 Continent with reference to the subject than among ourselves, 

 we may here state that MM. Hamont and Fischer, whose in- 

 vestigations have been previously referred to (page 3), affirm 

 that " all the veterinary surgeons of Europe agree with regard to 

 the exciting causes of rot. Chabert, Dupuy, Hurtrel, D'Arboval, 

 &c, describe its prevalence in low situations : the feeding on 

 marshy plants, as the different species of ranunculus, or plants 

 which grow in or under water ; the drinking of stagnant waters 

 filled with insects, or where the fluke-worm and the leech abound ; 

 the infected air of the sheepcote, and the sudden change from 

 dry to green food." MM. Hamont and Fischer, however, com- 

 bat most of these opinions, and conclude by asking " whether the 

 rot may not be an essential disease, dependent on a primitive 

 alteration of the blood, due to watery food ? " 



The Arabs, they state, attribute this disease to the sheep 

 feeding on a tender rushy grass, which they call dysse : — 



" As soon as the waters of the Nile begin to subside, the pastures are covered 

 with (lyase. The sheep are exceedingly fond of it, and they are permitted to 

 feed on it all day long, their feet being buried in the mud ; and, as we have 

 already said, for many months they have no other aliment. In the course of 

 a very little time they begin to get fat, when, if possible, they are sold. Their 

 flesh is then exceedingly delicate; but soon after this the disease begins to 

 appear, and the mortality commences. 



"In the neighbourhood of Abou-Zabel there is a vast tract of low land 

 which the Nile overflows for two months. When the waters retire, it is found 

 to be covered with these rushes. The neighbouring inhabitants hasten todrive 

 their flocks thither, and they leave them on the marsh from the rising to the 

 setting sun. Every year the rot carries oil* numerous victims; but it is a 

 matter of general remark, that this disease is more frequent and fatal when 

 the sheep are first turned on the newly-recovered pasture, than afterwards 

 when the ground has become dried and the rushy grass harder." 



r 



