SCOTTISH METROPOLITAN VETERINARY MEDICAL SOCIETY. 209 
not to be wondered at. That lambs born of ewes so circum¬ 
stanced should become the subjects of enzootic arthritis, in which 
a marked feature is the existence of badly developed and ill- 
elaborated tissue, the elements of which are prone to retrogressive 
and degenerative changes, seems only the natural result of the 
law “ that like produces like.” It is rather interesting, too, to 
note that many changes and abnormal conditions observed in the 
vascular system of the lambs suffering from arthritic disease seem 
but the counterpart of those we meet with in their dams. Bol¬ 
linger and those who hold with him lay great stress on general 
and particular thrombosis as a diagnostic feature of this disease 
in all young animals; now it is not uncommon to find in those 
ewes which have sunk ansemiated, either before or after parturi¬ 
tion, thrombosis of some of the larger veins, as the iliacs and 
cavse. This condition may be either partial or complete, while 
that the masses of fibrin plugging the vessels are not post -mortem 
results seems most probable, both from the character of the 
coagula themselves and the condition of the walls of the blood 
tubes. It is not meant to be asserted that in every outbreak of 
this malignant joint disease in lambs, the ewes will invariably be 
found sufferers from ansemia and organic disease of the liver; 
still I have no hesitation in saying, that in every well-marked in¬ 
road of any particular flock, the general health and constitutional 
vigour of the ewes is below par. The particular forms in which 
this want of vigour shows itself may vary. I have most 
frequently seen it developing in some disturbed or diseased con¬ 
dition of the assimilatory systems. In support of the assertion 
which I have made, that arthritic disease in lambs may be pro¬ 
duced at will by a particular dietary of the breeding ewes, I will 
endeavour shortly to give you the account of the treatment, during 
a few seasons, of a rather large flock of high-bred Border Lei- 
cesters, together with a simple statement of the diseases occurring 
at parturition, and an idea of the death-rate in both ewes and 
lambs. I may also tell you that any deviations from the ordinary 
treatment of breeding ewes were undertaken with a view to the 
prevention of disease in both ewes and lambs. The lands on 
which these sheep were kept were in high condition, manurially 
rich; no grasses were grown on the lands but Italian ryegrass 
and clovers. Prom the state of cultivation, the grass on which 
the ewes were pastured during winter was invariably rough, rank, 
and full of growth; on these pastures they were chiefly kept. 
During spring they might have some turnips on the breaks, and 
at lambing the roots were laid down to them on grass. All ewes 
which had been on these lands for two or three years were 
sufferers from hepatic disease, in the older animals complicated 
with ascites. Every year—that is, every year until the modifica- 
