Report on Liver- Rot. 
195 
that they wore sound ; wliito frosts set in, which, he remarks, are 
always an;ainst the stock ; by December 1st several were dead ; 
48 perished outriglit ; 80 were sold at 5s. each, Mr. fV. Thome, 
M.R.C.V.S., Bridgend, has examined many sheep that have 
died during the trying winter of 1879-80 ; many have had 
flukes and have died from the irritation and inflammation 
engendered by them, and similar results he has observed in 
young cattle. The statement that the horses at Waterton Court 
suffered from flukes requires, he thinks, confirmation. Many 
cattle and even sheep which have lately perished, have died, he 
states, from poverty, with enlarged dropsical livers, but have 
been free from flukes. 
3fr. William Davies, Pilton, Swansea, has occupied his farm 
for forty-eight years. Until fifteen years ago he never knew 
what rot was ; faulty drains and wet seasons have rotted a few 
most years, but in 1879 and 1880 the whole flock was swept 
away, Messrs. Holland Brothers, Gower, in November 1879, 
happening to kill a ewe, found her liver full of flukes, and, 
submitting to a small loss, sold out all the breeding flock. 
Soon the yearling cattle became thriftless, and five died ; their 
livers were enlarged and hardened, and contained many flukes 
of unusual size. Mr. Thomas Small, M.R.C.V.S., Swansea, 
remarked that after several wet seasons on all wet lands rot is 
liable to prevail, and its occurrence under such circumstances 
is greatly encouraged by the poor indifferently nourished state 
of the stock. 
Mr. D. Nicholas, Veterinary Surgeon, Aberdare, reported that 
up to the end of May 1880 he had encountered no liver-rot either 
in sheep or cattle in his private practice, or in the performance 
of his duties as Inspector under the Contagious Diseases 
(Animals) Act. Within the last nine months cases both in 
sheep and cattle have, however, been common. 
In Gloucestershire for two years the disease has extended, 
attacking sheep on land formerly regarded as perfectly sound. 
During the winter and spring of 1880 thousands of sheep were 
cleared off; many both alive and dead were sent to the Metro- 
politan markets. The Agricultural Returns indicate that in 
Gloucestershire in June 1880 there was a falling off of upwards 
of (50,000 sheep as compared with 1878 and 1879. Cattle as 
well as sheep have been attacked. Colonel Kingscote bore 
testimony to the almost ubiquitous distribution of flukes, and 
furnished lists of sufferers. Mr. Edward Bowly, of Siddington, 
and many of his neighbours have been losers. Replying to a 
series of questions, Mr. James Peter, Ham Villa, wrote : " The 
Vale of Berkeley is a dairy and cattle, not a sheep, district. 
Much of the land lies under the level of the Severn, which, 
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