ItOT IN SHEEP. 
277 
have taken place. From 1830 to the present time we have 
also had similar visitations, which have been more or less 
destructive, but none of them perhaps since that period have 
been so much so as the present one. Speaking generally, I 
think 1 am right in saying that nearly all the southern 
parts of England, together with some of the eastern, and par¬ 
ticularly the western counties, are at this time affected with 
this disease, and there have been some thousands of animals 
that have had to be disposed of at a very small cost, while 
others that were not sold in the early stages of the affec¬ 
tion have since died bv hundreds. I am acquainted with in¬ 
stances in my own neighbourhood, on the verge of London, 
where the losses have amounted to from 600 to 700 sheep in a 
flock. I am now speaking more particularly of Welsh sheep, 
the ewes being purchased and brought into the district 
for breeding purposes. Some persons, indeed, have scarcely 
a sheep left. One person in particular who buys 800 or 900 
of these sheep, has, I believe, not more than 40 or 30 now 
alive. In Sussex and in many parts of Surrey similar losses 
of sheep of far greater value have taken place. In the 
neighbourhood of Eastbourne some persons have lost as many 
as 300 or 600 breeding ewes of considerable value as South- 
down sheep. These facts will show that the disease is not 
only very extensively spread, but that all kinds of sheep, from 
the most inferior to the superior, are equally affected with the 
malady. Having made these preliminary observations, I 
must pass on to speak of the nature of the disease, and to 
show what have been supposed to be the causes in operation 
to produce it. We have had a great number of theories as 
to the cause of the affection, but thev have been more or less 
wide of the true cause, some, however, have closely approxi¬ 
mated to it. For example, in Mr. Youatt’s very excellent work 
—a work which I may say ought to be in the hands of every 
farmer—there is a very lengthened article upon rot, not only 
giving his own experience upon the matter, but culling from 
nearly all those who have written at all sensibly upon the 
subject. He comes to the conclusion that the disease is due 
to the inhalation of miasm, and hence that it shows itself more 
particularly during the summer months, though in its pro¬ 
gress the disease is carried over to the autumn, through the 
winter, and even into the next year. He says that there are 
many deleterious emanations coming from the earth, when it 
is surcharged with moisture in damp and swampy districts ; 
that the sheep inhale this miasmatic matter; that it induces a 
bad habit of body, and lies at the foundation of the malady. 
It is, however, not a little singular that Mr* Youatt, in stating 
