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An Essay on sanguineous or apoplectic Congestion in 
Sheep, a Disease known under the Names of “ Blood,” 
“ Blood in the Spleen,” &c. 
By M. CHARLIER, V.S. at Rheims. 
[From the Recueil de Medecine Vet6rinaire Pratique.] 
If, among the various diseases to which the ovine race are subject, 
there is one more worthy of the attention of scientific men than 
another, it is indisputably sanguineous apoplectic congestions, 
otherwise known as disease of the blood, blood in the spleen, &c. : 
“ rapid in its progress, frightful in its symptoms, disastrous in its 
effects, it frequently carries off the greater part of the animals that 
it attacks, and commits sad ravages among our finest flocks.” 
Placed as I am in the centre of a highly cultivated district, I have, 
during five years of practice, had frequent opportunities of closely 
observing this formidable affection. Animated by the desire of 
being useful, and spurred on to my task by the reproach of an 
enlightened agriculturist, who, at a numerous meeting, accused us 
of not paying sufficient attention to the diseases of sheep, I con- 
sider it my duty to add such reflexions as the frequent and repeated 
appearance of this disease has suggested to me, to those veterinary 
writings already existing on this subject. 
In publishing my researches on sanguineous congestion, I do not 
pretend that they are entirely new, or such as have not already 
appeared before the public ; on the contrary, I candidly confess that 
the lectures I heard delivered by M. Delafond, at the Royal College 
of Alfort, as well as his excellent work on diseases of the blood, 
have frequently guided me in the study and examination of many 
of the facts that I have to relate; and had 1 not been so situated as 
to be able to study the disease under all its different phases, and 
observe every little point relative to it, I should never have under- 
taken to complete a picture in which the experienced hand of our 
learned Professor has left so little to be done. 
One single point, which is still disputed, appeared to me worthy 
of the utmost attention of both veterinarians and agriculturists. I 
allude to the sudden appearance of diffuse or ill-circumscribed 
tumours, arising from a subcutaneous hemorrhage, which, by 
distending the skin and communicating to it a bluish hue, has so 
frequently caused this disease to be mistaken for a typhoid or 
putrid affection. Uninfluenced by any preconceived idea, and 
without at all entering into the numerous conflicting opinions that 
have emanated from honourable and talented but somewhat too 
systematic men, I will simply narrate the results of my own 
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