The Rot in Sheep. 
129 
previously explained, as a local irritant only, and as such keeps 
the liver in a state of activity, so that in turn more lat is depo- 
sited in the tissues. Thus the placing^ of sheep upon good 
ijraziiiij, but rot-g-iving pastures, proves not to be an immediately 
unprofitable proceeding. 
The time for the accumulation of fat having passed away, the 
animal begins to lose condition. The entozoa have now turned 
the scale. They have laid the foundation for structural changes 
in the liver. The bile also is being gradually changed in quality, 
and the liver can no longer cfticiently maintain its office of a 
sugar-forming organ, or an elaborator of fibrine. Imperfect chy- 
lification is a necessary accompaniment, and the blood soon lacks 
purity as well as quality. Its quantity likewise suffers, for its 
development is restricted. The same amount of food which had 
sufficed to support, or even to give increase of bulk to the body, 
cannot now minister to the growing wants of the system. 
These great changes in the condition of the animal may have 
insidiously crept on, but they are none the less serious on that 
account. As time passes, the wasting becomes more and more 
jierceptible. The placing of the hand on the back of the animal 
Avill show that the muscles on each side of the vertebrae are so 
attenuated that the spinous processes of the bones project above 
them. Tbe animal, in common language, is "razor-backed." 
The same leanness pervades the entire frame, and evervwhere 
the processes of the bones are more prominent than usual. The 
general contour of the body is also changed. Often, when the 
wasting commences, the belly is gaunt, but it soon begins to 
enlarge and grow pendulous from effusion into the cavity. In 
the advanced stages of the malady this gives a still further altered 
outline to the body, for the loins now sink or droop, and the 
animal becomes " hollow-backed." 
The general surface of the skin loses its ruddy hue, and be- 
comes deficient of the unctuous secretion which in health belongs 
to it. This renders the wool harsh and dry, and leads also to its 
easy separation from the follicles. A dry scaly state of skin, on 
the inner parts of the thighs, particularly where it is uncovered 
with either wool or hair, is likewise early to be recognised. 
The animal soon becomes dull and dispirited, and has a pecu- 
liar dejected appearance, with an expression of countenance 
common to many entozoic diseases. "The Ettrick Shepherd" 
has a quaint tale about this. Once, he says, he was conversing 
with Mr. Adam Bryden about distinguishing a rotten sheep 
while at large with the flo( k, and asked him how this could be 
done ; when " he answered in his usual shrewd and comical 
style : The late Advocate Mackintosh's method of discerning 
a good man is the best in th? world whereby to distinguish a 
VOL. XXIII. ' K 
