and  the  Prevention  of  Rot. 
299 
is  available,  the  point  will  be  more  readily  decided  by  taking  a 
very  small  quantity  of  the  droppings  of  the  sheep  on  the  point 
of  a penknife,  mixing  it  with  a little  water  on  a glass-slide,  and 
examining  for  fluke-eggs.  If  the  animal  contains  many  flukes, 
even  so  small  a quantity  of  the  droppings  will  show  several 
eggs,  easily  recognized  as  eggs  on  account  of  their  perfectly 
definite  shape  and  yellowish-brown  colour.  This  method  of 
course  will  only  serve  to  prove  the  presence  of  the  flukes  when 
the  disease  has  been  taken  for  some  time,  for  the  fluke  does 
not  begin  to  produce  eggs  until  it  has  been  in  the  sheep  some 
six  weeks. 
The  manure  of  fluked  animals  must  never  be  placed  on  wet 
ground.  If  the  sheep  are  kept  in  a yard,  the  manure  should  be 
collected,  and  a little  coal-tar  oil  may  be  added  to  prevent  the 
development  of  the  eggs  ; or  it  should  be  kept  for  a considerable 
time  before  it  is  spread  on  the  fields.  The  livers  of  rotten 
sheep  should  be  destroyed,  for  they  contain  enormous  numbers 
of  eggs ; perhaps  the  simplest  way  of  getting  rid  of  them  will 
be  to  bury  them  deep.  When  livers  are  not  very  much  injured 
by  the  fluke,  they  are  often  given  to  dogs,  and  there  is  no  great 
objection  to  this,  provided  they  he  well  cooked  first.  Other- 
wise, if  they  are  given  in  a raw  state,  the  contained  eggs  will 
pass  uninjured  through  the  dog,  and  be  distributed  by  it. 
2nd  Condition.  There  must  be  wet  y round  or  water  during 
the  warmer  weather  for  the  eggs  to  hatch  in. — If  the  eggs  of  the 
liver-fluke  are  to  be  hatched,  they  must  be  in  water,  or  at  least 
be  kept  moist,  during  some  weeks  of  warm  weather,  or  even  for 
some  months  if  the  temperature  be  lower.  If  the  eggs  are  once 
thoroughly  dried,  their  vitality  is  destroyed,  the  side  of  the 
shell  being  usually  crushed  in. 
Ground  is  often,  with  reference  to  the  rot,  spoken  of  as 
“ sound,”  or,  on  the  contrary,  as  “ rotting.”  When  the  droppings 
containing  fluke-eggs  fall  on  to  a field,  the  rain  will  distribute 
the  eggs  over  the  surface,  washing  them  down  to  the  roots  of 
the  grass.  If  the  soil  is  light  and  sandy  or  porous,  the  ground 
will  be  “ sound,”  for  the  water  will  filter  into  the  earth,  leaving 
the  eggs  on  the  surface,  where  they  will  get  dried,  and  so  be 
destroyed.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  soil  is  heavy  and  clayey, 
so  that  the  rain-water  does  not  sink  into  the  earth,  but  flows 
along  the  surface,  the  ground  is  “ rotting.”  For,  as  the  water 
flows  over  the  surface,  it  carries  the  fluke-eggs  along  with  it, 
and  deposits  them  in  ditches,  holes,  marshy  places,  furrows 
where  the  water  stands,  all  of  them  places  where  the  eggs 
will  hatch. 
The  obvious  remedy  for  this  evil  is  to  drain  the  land 
thoroughly  and  efficiently,  and  this  will  not  only  do  much  to 
