142 
Rcj:ort on Livcr-Rot. 
to comparatively dry uplands. The losses have been serious on 
arable as well as on grass farms. In 1879 it is estimated that 
in England and Wales three millions of sheep died or were 
sacrificed from rot. Notwithstanding a diminution of one- 
tentli in the number of the flocks, equally great losses occurred 
during 1880, and still continue. These devastations are not 
confined to sheep. Cattle in many localities are extensively and 
seriously infested. Hares, rabbits, and deer are also frequent 
sufferers. 
The Council of the Royal Agricultural Society was early 
alive to the serious losses which this visitation of liver-rot was 
likely to entail. The Veterinary Committee in May 1880 
issued a series of inquiries regarding the prevalence of the 
disease. Various Members of Council zealously gathered 
information in their own localities. Mr. J. H. Arkwright, 
Mr. Richard Garrett, Colonel Kingscote, Col. J. P. Turbervill, 
and Mr. Charles Whitehead, obtained a mass of specially 
valuable information, which has been placed in my hands, and 
is embodied in the subjoined report. A new edition of Pro- 
fessor Simond's paper on Liver-rot, reprinted from the ' Journal,' 
has been widely circulated. A most important investigation, 
undertaken by Mr. A. P. Thomas, of the Anatomical Depart- 
ment of the University of Oxford, and still in course of prosecu- 
tion, has elucidated some facts relating to the complex life- 
history of the fluke, and forms the subject of an article in the 
present ' Journal.' My report deals with more practical topics 
— with the prevalence of the disease in different parts of the 
country, the conditions amidst which it is found, the manner in 
Avhich it has spread, and the measures adopted for its prevention 
and cure. 
Kent and Sussex, on their heavy clays and frequently flooded 
meadows, were formerly very liable to rot. Effectual ditching 
and draining have of late years rendered many unsound grazings 
perfectly safe for sheep. Mr. Charles Whitehead, of Barming 
House, Maidstone, responding to the request of the Veterinary 
Committee of the Royal Agricultural Society, obtained in May 
and June 1880 the following valuable information regarding 
the prevalence and spread of rot in Kent. As elsewhere during 
the winter of 1880-81, the disease has greatly extended ; cattle 
as well as sheep have been largely as well as fatally affected ; 
rabbits and hares are reported to have suffered ; and Mr. James 
Weeks, Bradbourne, near Ashford, has lost from flukes a 
number of pheasants kept continually in pens. 
Mr. John Tyman, Witherenden Farm, Ticehurst, Hawkhurst, 
writing to Mr. C. Whitehead, states : " I have lost two cows 
and four calves since Christmas ; their livers were quite rotten ; 
