Tlic Rot in Shopp. 
89 
has liail at command numerous fac ilities for oljsorvinc: tlio state 
of the organism directh/ after the death of tlie aOected animal. 
Nor is this the only advantage he has enjoyed ; for a few visits to 
the abattoir have sufficed to show the several stages of the malady 
from its earliest l)eginning to its fatal termination. \n shnu/htered 
animals, it is likewise to be remembered, that disease is always 
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 very considerable. We fear, how- 
ever, that too many have not sought this knowledge for them- 
selves, but been content to adopt the opinions of others, who 
mav 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 essentially an inflam- 
viatori/ affection of the liver. Others, on the contrary, view it as 
a general dropsy associated with chronib disease of the liver and 
an impure state of the blood, and one author, in particular — a 
surgeon — has even contended for its being a tuberculous disorder 
of the lungs. 
The gentleman thus alluded to is Mr. Blacklock, whose 
writings we have before quoted from. He says, — 
" The are always tlic principal, and I may also, from my own expe- 
rience, add, the primary seat of the affection. When examined in the early 
stage of rot, they have a hard lumpy feel, especially at the upper part or lobe ; 
and at tliis time a great number of irregular yellowish-white, patchy-looking 
bodies will be seen shining through the membrane, pleura, which surrounds 
the organ. These tubercles, as the hard white bodies are called, varj^ in size 
from that of a mustard-seed to that of a pea. They are sprinkled through all 
parts of the lung, and will, in every dissection, be found in a variety of stages, 
from the firm condition in which they were deposited, to the softened state 
which denotes their speedy expectoration. Each tubercle, however small, 
usually holds a particle of calcareous matter in its centre." 
The confidence with which Mr. Blacklock speaks of the 
matter will be further shown by one other short extract from 
his writings : — • 
" Fluke-worms' and hydatids are almost constant attendants on rot, 
and seemingly most important ones, especially the former, which have, I 
may say, kept a great bulk of the learned and unlearned for many years in a 
perpetual bustle, and have so hoodwinked writers on this subject as to pre- 
vent them seeing the truly important points of the disease." 
The opinions thus authoritatively put forth respecting rot being 
a tuberculous disease of the lungs have no foundation in 
fact. Indeed, as has been already pointed out, sheep are not 
subject to depositions in their respiratory organs of this aplastic 
material, which proves so destructive to mankind. 
