The Rot in Sheep. 
121 
proved that the disease couhl be quiekl j eng-end(n ed. INIany suc h 
instances fire recorded, some of which we purpose to give in 
e.rfeiiso, as thereby we conceive additional confirmation will be 
afforded of the correctness of the statement that rot is an cntozolc 
disease. 
As early as 1G36, allusion is made to the subject by Crawshey, 
who remarks, that " many shepherds say that, if the weather 
be hot, their sheep will take the rot in twenty-four hours." * 
Similar statements are made in general terms by many authors 
subsequent to this date ; but the first special cases which are 
given in detail, that we have as yet seen, occur in Dr. Harrison's 
work, 1804. He asserts that the grandfather of a Mr. Harrison, 
then residing at Fisherton, near Lincoln, " removed ninety sheep 
from a considerable distance to his own residence. On coming 
near to a bridge which is thrown over the Barlings river, one of 
the drove fell into a ditch and fractured its fore leg. The shep- 
herd immediately took it in his arms to a neighbouring house 
and replaced the limb. During this time, which did not occupy 
more than an hour, the remainder were left to graze in the ditches 
and lane. The flock was driven home, and in a v7onth aftericards 
the other sheep joined its companions. The shepherd soon dis- 
covered that all had contracted the rot, except the lame sheep ; 
and as they were never separated upon any other occasion, it is 
reasonable to conclude that the disorder was acquired by feeding 
in the road and ditches." 
Again, " A Lincolnshire farmer purchased some turnips in 
Nottinghamshire, upon which he intended to winter a flock of 
sheep. The first division, consisting of about forty, were de- 
tained one night at a village near to the place formerly alluded 
to, by the overflowing of the Barlings Eau, and were put upon 
a piece of flat land which leads to the river. The water had not 
returned to its former channel more than a day or two. Every 
one of the forty became rotten, whereas the other division, 
which stopped noAvhere by the way, escaped the disorder, 
and remained well." Harrison further adds, " I have likewise 
been informed by Mr. David Wright, that a few years since, as 
a drove of sheep were passing through a long lane in the parish 
of Irby, one of them, being weary, fell down in the middle of the 
road. The others were permitted to range at large till their com- 
panion was able to travel. They were then driven altogether into 
a pasture, and it was soon discovered that only the tired sheep 
had escaped the rot." 
We select two more cases of a similar kind, one from Parkin- 
son, 1810, and the other from Youatt, 1837. The former writer 
* See page 72. 
