The Rot in Sheep. 



81 



The yellow hue of the tissues, so generally present, is con- 

 siderably less in amount, and is sometimes scarcely to be 

 noticed. 



In concluding this section of our Essay, we add a few words 

 with reference to the effluvium which arises from the carcasses 

 of rotten sheep. This is often extremely nauseating, even 

 when the animal is opened directly after death. We have on 

 more than one occasion known persons to be taken seriously ill 

 when engaged in opening many rotten sheep at a time. A 

 remarkable instance, not only of sickness, but of death, was 

 brought to our notice in August of 1854. A person of intem- 

 perate habits, following the occupation of a country butcher, 

 was employed in skinning and dressing a number of rotten 

 sheep on the premises of a farmer in the county of Norfolk. 

 The sheep were necessarily opened while warm ; and, during 

 the time he was engaged, he complained greatly of the sickening 

 smell. The same evening he was attacked with choleraic 

 disease, and two days afterwards was a corpse. 



That the bodies of rotten sheep quickly undergo putrefaction 

 is well known, and elsewhere this is assigned as a reason for the 

 name given to the malady ; but that injury may arise after 

 death from the effluvium accompanying the vapour given off 

 from their still warm bodies is not so generally understood. 



Treatment of Diseased Sheep. 



The successful treatment of a disease is necessarily based on a 

 correct understanding of its pathology, without which the appli- 

 cation of remedial means becomes mere empiricism. It were well 

 for the ends of science if knowledge of this kind invariably tended 

 to the discovery of a cure for each separate affection, but unfor- 

 tunately it too frequently leads to the very opposite result. The 

 more we understand of the nature of some diseases, the more 

 we despair of being able to eradicate them, or even to mitigate 

 their effects. It is the possession, however, of exact information 

 of this kind which marks the difference between the man of 

 science and the mere empiric. The latter rushes in, and boldly 

 declares his ability to cure that which is incurable; while the 

 former honestly declares his inability to do anything for good. 

 Correct pathological knowledge will doubtless show that the 

 cure of rot can scarcely be hoped for, although much may, 

 nevertheless, be done to arrest the progress of the malady. 



Many remedies of empiric origin have been forced on the 

 notice of agriculturists from time to time, both in this country 

 and on the Continent, for the cure of rotten sheep — all of 

 which have, however, signally failed in verifying the statements 



