The Rot in Sheep. 
65 
Rot is one of the most ancient disoasos witli wliich wo an* 
acquainted. Tlic earliest writers on husbandry, as well as on 
the affections of cattle and sheep, make frequent mention of its 
ravajjcs, and speak of a variety of causes as beinjj in operation 
in producinj^ it. Googe, Mascall, and h'itzherbcrt are among 
those of the llkli century ; and Mr. Youatt, in his work on 
' Sheej),^ remarks that even Hippocrates gave a very faithful 
account of the malady, " erring only in considering the flukes as 
hydatids ; or rather his attention was confined to the hydatids, 
which are now frequently found in the liver of the sheep." 
The disease would appear to belong to no particular country ; 
and perhaps there are few if any parts of the globe where sheep 
have been domesticated in which it does not occasionally prevail. 
A fact of this kind is of much importance, because it goes very 
far to negative many of the views which are entertained with 
regard to local causes of the affection. For example, some persons 
in the present day speak of the deleterious effects of certain grasses, 
such as the " carnation-grass ;"* but this, like many other plants, 
similarly regarded, grows only in wet and undrained localities, 
and, consequently, its existence is but an indication of danger- 
ous pasturage. It may be affirmed that several of the supposed 
deleterious plants do not belong to Egypt nor to Australia, nor to 
many other parts of the world where rot is met with ; vegetables 
of a special or particular variety being, as is well known, far 
more restricted in their distribution than even the lowest forms 
of animal life. Wherever, however, the disease is manifested, 
there the mortality will be found equal to our own, be this in the 
eastern or western hemispheres, in the torrid or frigid zones. 
Mr. Youatt observes that " many sheep are destroyed by the rot 
in Germany. In the north of France," he adds, "they are fre- 
quently swept away by it, and in the winter of 1801) scarcely a 
merino in the whole of that kingdom escaped. It is destruc- 
tive as far north in Europe as Norway, and even the most 
southern provinces of Spain have had occasion to mourn its 
ravages. It has thinned many a flock in North America, and in 
Van Diemen's Land and Australia it has occasionally been as 
destructive as on the worst undrained land in England."! 
MM. Hamont and Fischer, of the Veterinary School of Aljou- 
* Discussion on Rot. Royal Agricultural Society, February 20th, 1S61. See 
also the Society's Journal, prissim. 
" Carnation grass," correctly speaking, is a sedge, the Carcx pracox. It is well 
known in the eastern counties. It has a creeping root like couch — Triticum rcpcns 
— and owes its name to the colour of its leaves, which are of bluish green or 
glaucous hue. 
+ ' Sheep : their Breeds, Management and Diseases,' p. 44.^. 
VOL. xxiir. F 
