100 ON THE PROPAGATION OP ROT IN SHEEP. 
invite me to witness that examination ; but I failed to create 
enough of interest in his mind on the subject. Other parcels 
were carried in my pocket a few days longer ; but on my return 
to Blackthorn, where was my microscope, some of these dried 
eggs were spread upon object-glasses. Of these some appeared 
to be burst; some were shrivelled, and I concluded had lost 
their vitality from desiccation ; but, on wetting them with a 
little water, some of these were plumped up again; but whether 
or not their vitality was destroyed I had no means of proving. 
I was induced, however, to infer that desiccation does destroy 
the vitality of these eggs, and that hence arises the salubrity of 
sheep pastures on low lands, after they have experienced dry 
weather for some time. But the point requires better and further 
proof yet. 
I have found healthy eggs in abundance in the intestines of 
diseased sheep commingled uninjured by digestion, with their 
excrementitious contents ; and in the mucus scraped from the lin- 
ing membranes of the intestines, from the duodenum, into the 
end of which the gall-bladder empties itself all the way to the 
rectum. These eggs are so abundantly distributed, that any 
modicum of faecal matter taken up with the point of a penknife, 
and gently spread upon an object-glass, shewed several of these 
eggs, when touched with half a drop of pure water. 
Between the opening of the ductus communis and the pylorus, 
I seldom found eggs ; and when l did find any, there were evi- 
dent signs in the discoloured character of the contents of the 
duodenum that bile had regurgitated or passed up the duodenum 
instead of down its natural route. 
I have never witnessed the slaughter of previously sound sheep 
whilst feeding upon unsound pasture ; if I did, I should certainly 
search for eggs that may have been recently taken in with its 
food, and I should, a priori , expect to find some sound, some 
hatching, and some ruptured, in the stomachs and duodenum. 
This is an exceedingly important point, and requires patient 
investigation. To do it effectually, a score or two of sound sheep 
should be purchased ; two or three should be slaughtered, to see 
that they really are sound ; they should be put on rotten land, 
and a thimble full of flukes’ eggs should be commingled often with 
the damp grass upon which the sheep feed, so as to ensure their 
swallowing a plentiful dose of recently-collected healthy eggs. 
Afterwards,. one or two per week should be slaughtered, and the 
contents of their stomach, duodenum, and gall-bladder, and 
ducts, very carefully examined. This experiment I have been 
hindered from instituting by my steam carriage pursuits ; but 
others may probably set about it, and without loss; for the 
