Abstract Report on Rot in Sheep. 
123 
From these premises it may be inferred that should the forth- 
coming Slimmer prove hot and dry, little fear need be entertained 
of a recurrence of the disease ; and not only so, but that many 
infected sheep, in which only a few flukes exist, will, by the care 
and attention which had been bestowed upon them during the 
winter, be greatly invigorated and saved to the farmer. 
The circumstance before alluded to, of certain pastures being 
always dangerous under any conditions of weather, should 
never be lost sight of; for if sheep are fed thereon for a verj" 
limited time only they will contract the rot. Many well- 
authenticated cases of the quick contamination of sheep are 
recorded, the details of which are given in the pamphlet already 
referred to. A perusal of these cases will show that an hour 
or two will often suffice for the conveyance of fluke-embryos 
into the system in sufficient numbers as ultimately to cause the 
death of the animal from rot. 
Many causes are in operation to influence the rapidity with 
which the organism of the sheep yields to the disease. Some 
of these belong to the conditional state of the animal itself, 
and others to the circumstances by Avliich it is surrounded. 
Apart from such diseases as may co-exist with rot, the chief 
of the constitutional causes are the number of flukes inhabiting 
the biliary ducts, the natural stamina of the animal, and its 
amount of flesh at the time of the declaration of the symptoms. 
Age also, and the purposes for which the sheep are kept, 
exercise an important influence upon the progress of the 
affection. Thus breeding or nursing ewes, from the demand 
made on their systems for the development or support of their 
young, will generally succumb more readily than store sheep, 
and most assuredly much sooner, all other things being equal, 
than those Avhich are being fattened for the market. Lambs 
also, when affected in the first few months of their age, will, for 
want of sufficiently matured strength of constitution, soon sink 
under the malady. 
Among the beneficial and surrounding circumstances few are 
so potent as a continuous supply of food rich in the elements of 
blood, and containing comparatively a small proportion of water. 
Sheep thus fed Avill long resist the debilitating effects of the 
flukes, as well as the changes which are taking place in the liver. 
It is easy to understand that the existence of the parasites 
being associated with an almost continuous supply of watery 
or innutritious food, and exposure of the animal to a low tempe- 
rature and variable weather, will the sooner produce a bloodless 
state of the system than when the opposite state of things obtains. 
Hence the quick progress of rot in the autumn and winter, more 
especially if wet weather should long prevail. 
