224 FRENCH REMEDY FOR THE CURE OF ROT IN SHEEP. 
kind of food which would be supplied to the animals, and 
the protection which would be afforded them. 
The sheep left at the College were kept entirely on hay 
and oats, housed every night in a shed, but allowed the use 
of a small enclosure during the day. Those sent to Oak- 
ington were on the contrary placed in a meadow, with an 
abundant supply of grass, had no corn, nor any protection 
of a night, save when the weather was wet. 
I further determined to give the medicine to three sheep 
only of each lot, leaving the others entirely to their chance. 
In doing this I selected the apparent^ strongest sheep for 
taking the medicine. 
The directions received from France for the use of the 
agent were that a tablespoonful should be given to each 
sheep every morning, half an hour before feeding time, and 
be continued from fifteen to twenty days to animals in the 
early stages of the disease, and from thirty to forty days to 
those in the advanced or latter stages, or even for a longer 
time in very severe cases. It was further ordered that as 
soon as the animals had gained their appetite and strength, 
whatever other indications of the disease might exist, no 
more medicine should be given, as these were signs of con¬ 
valescence—proper care as to feeding and management suf¬ 
ficing to complete the cure. Under the influence of regimen, 
care and exhibition of the medicine, it was also stated that a 
cure would be effected in a month or six weeks of the sheep 
in the early stages of the disease, and in about three months 
of those in the advanced stages, l he recoveries were said 
to be all in the first, and two thirds in the latter stages. 
The exhibition of the medicine for the first fortnight 
appeared in neither lot to have any marked effect, the 
animals, with one exception, continuing in their original 
condition. In the case alluded to, and which was one of the 
sheep kept at the College, the disease was evidently fast 
gaining ground, foretelling a fatal result. This was also one 
of the animals to which the medicine was administered. On 
the twenty-first day from the commencement of the experi¬ 
ment it died, and on being examined post mortem it was 
found that numerous flukes existed in the liver, that the 
organ was pale in colour and had undergone structural 
changes, that effusion of serum had taken place into the 
abdominal cavity, and that the entire flesh was flaccid and 
paler in colour than natural from general anaemia—thus 
proving the true nature of the malady. Under these cir¬ 
cumstances, I resolved to select one other of the three animals 
which up to this time had had no medicine, as the trial 
