202 Report on an Outbreak of Abortion, Sfc, in the 
In such examples extreme prostration usually resulted in exhaus- 
tion and death. 
In other instances, the general indications of ill-health were 
but slightly marked. Languid movements, indifference to food, 
and slight dulness, were the premonitory signs, followed by 
straining, which might continue for one, two, or three days, 
attended or not with a discharge of fetid fluid. 
In the latter case a dead putrid lamb was sooner or later dis- 
charged, followed, or in some cases preceded, by a second, either 
alive or but recently dead. When the lamb was born alive it 
was mostly small and badly nourished, and soon succumbed to 
premature exposure and want of development. 
A marked excess of cases occurred in the younger portion of 
the flocks, and the same mav be said of the " earlv season " as 
compared with the " late season " ewes. Ewes tupped on 
turnips suffered more than those run on clover lair or old pasture. 
Of the 51,475 ewes comprised in this enquiry, 6234, or about 
12 per cent., aborted, and 1494 died. 
In estimating the relative frequency of abortion in ewes with 
pairs as compared with singles, it was found that the losses 
predominated in the former in the ratio of 31 to 5. 
This fact i? of considerable importance, inasmuch as it points 
to the existence of some debilitating cause unfitting the ewes 
with twins to meet the greater demands on their nutritive 
resources, while influencing in a less degree those with singles. 
As to the existence of abortion in cattle, information was also 
canvassed. The replies that I received on this head clearly 
show that no concurrent epizootic prevailed in the yards, not- 
withstanding that roots from the same stock as those supplied 
to ewes and hoggets were, in the instances where cattle were 
kept, also consumed by cows. In four returns out of the one 
hundred and six, abortion is said to have occurred in cattle on 
three farms, but only to an inconsiderable extent so far as two 
of them were concerned : and in the case of the third, it 
appeared to have arisen some time antecedent to the outbreak 
referred to in this Report. From these considerations, together 
with the further fact that roots were largely consumed by 
feeding sheep, it does not appear that they possessed any special 
deleterious quality. Speaking of the root-crops generally, tbey 
are said to have been exceptionally abundant, and uniformly 
free from disease and decay ; but, owing to the mildness of the 
winter, they continued to grow, and remained throughout th«' 
season in an unripe and watery condition. This state of the 
root-crops has been referred to again and again by experienced 
farmers as a potent factor in the production of the disorder, and 
there is every reason to believe that such was the case. 
