INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
625 
fatal result. On examination, death, in the greater number 
of instances, is found to depend on structural changes of the 
pulmonary tissues, and sometimes of the liver. The edges 
of the lungs, in particular, are consolidated, impervious to 
air, and often infiltrated with a purulent fluid, seemingly 
caused by passive congestion, leading to effusion and slow 
degeneracy of the liquor sanguinis , as results of the exhaust¬ 
ing influence of the long-continued heat. Besides this cause 
of death, great numbers of lambs are likewise being lost from 
the presence of filar'm , hair-like worms, in the abomasum — 
the true digestive stomach. The animals present analogous 
symptoms to those whose lungs are organically diseased ; 
and as such, the cause being overlooked, we are often told 
that nothing can be discovered to account for death. I do 
not now stop to go into further particulars of these cases of 
worms within the stomach, because in the present state of 
science we cannot satisfactorily trace their connexion with 
either a paucity of rain or an elevated temperature. There 
are, however, two remarkable instances of the destruction of 
animals depending upon the latter cause, which have re¬ 
cently appeared in the pages of the Veterinarian . (See pages 
509 et seq ). 
I must here leave this part of my subject, although nume¬ 
rous other proofs could be adduced of the ill effects produced 
on animal life by the extreme drought and heat of the weather. 
Mention has already been made of the great fatality of 
lambs, at present, arising from entozoa, of the thread-like 
variety of worms being located within the abomasum. Our 
attention was first directed to this interesting pathological 
fact last year, in consequence of the serious losses which were 
being sustained by an eminent agriculturist, who prides 
himself upon the purity of the breed of his sheep, and the 
care bestowed on their feeding and management. Notwith- 
standing the best-directed efforts, his lambs were gradually 
falling away in condition, and ultimately dying as if from 
starvation. They had gone on well up to the time of their 
being about three to four months old, when thev were ob- 
served to cease growing, and to have an unhealthy appearance 
of the wool. Their appetites, however, remained good, and 
the evacuations were for the most part healthy; nor were 
there any other observable indications of disease, beyond the 
gradual wasting away of the soft tissues of the body, accom¬ 
panied in some few instances with diarrhoea towards the close 
of life. Several post-mortem examinations, undertaken chiefly by 
himself, failed to throw any light on the affection, and hence 
our opinion was sought. On inspecting the animals on the 
