ON THE ROT IN SHEEP. 
587 
they recommend, in the earliest stage of it # . I am very much 
inclined to consider the cures that are said to have been effected 
as those of common cold, and not of this peculiar malady. 
THE ROT (LA CACHEXIE AQUEUSE) IN SHEEP, 
AS OBSERVED IN EGYPT. 
By M. Hamont, Founder and Director of the Veterinary 
School of Abou-Zabel. 
[Continued from p. 546.] 
In animals affected with the rot, the blood is sometimes de¬ 
composed to such a degree that it scarcely stains the linen on 
which it falls. The fluids are part of the organization of an 
animal; the blood is the source of nutrition ; the solids are 
formed from the fluids: it is contrary to physiology to refuse 
them a part in the production of disease. Professor Fcedore 
places the very essence of scurvy in an alteration and separation 
of the constituent principles of the blood. Dr. Leuret was the 
first to demonstrate that the blood of a horse labouring under 
malignant fever, and transfused into the veins of a healthy horse, 
would produce the same disease; and malignant fever, once pro¬ 
duced, often developes itself, and runs its course in a very short 
period of time. 
The blood of the horse during the spring is more watery, and 
contains more serum than when the food is of a drier kind. The 
researches of our estimable colleague, M. Figari, have abund¬ 
antly proved this. The diarrhoea of sheep, and tubercles in the 
liver, cannot be always or generally considered as the result of 
inflammation. Diarrhoea may exist without inflammation, and 
from mere debility of the digestive apparatus. When we give 
rabbits green and moist food, diarrhoea ensues, and it ceases when 
the food is changed. Tuberculous affections are sometimes pro¬ 
duced without the influence of irritating causes. It is beyond 
doubt that they occasionally develope themselves without pre- 
* In the early editions, Clater recommends the following jumble of dan¬ 
gerous ingredients : “ Take wormwood and savin (!) of each two ounces (!!); 
Indian pink, half an ounce; cut or bruise them small, and put them into a 
pitcher ; then pour a quart of boiling water upon the ingredients, cover 
them down, and let them stand in a warm place till next morning; then 
strain the liquor through a cloth, and add to it, ginger in powder half an 
an ounce, aniseeds fresh powdered two ounces, linseed oil two table- 
spoonsful. Mix, and give it new milk warm. The above drink is calcu¬ 
lated for a calf of the age of three months (!!), and from that to six or eight 
months. In a later edition, however, he tells another and a better story. 
