120 
THE VETERINARIAN, FEBRUARY 1, 1873. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.—C iceko, 
■.. "■ 
SHEEP ROT IN AUSTRALIA. 
We have the pleasure to call the attention of our readers 
to the following highly practical article on the fluke dis¬ 
ease or rot of sheep. It is extracted from the Melbourne 
Leader for Sept. 7tli, 1872; having been written by Dr. 
John P. Rowe, who modestly signs himself as c< A Sheep 
Parmer in the Goulburn district.” Our colleague, Professor 
Cobbold, has received a letter from the writer, thanking 
him very cordially “ for the light he has thrown on this 
subject, and for the essential services he has rendered to the 
sheep farmers of Australia.” 
“ The sheep pest known as fluke is very much on the 
increase in the flocks of Victoria ; it may indeed be asserted 
that its ravages have extended during the last three years 
to flocks in every part of the colony, with the remarkable 
exception of those fed on the salt plains of the north-western 
district, and some other salsuginous pastures. The losses 
by some of our sheep-owners since shearing have been really 
alarming, and it is calculated by persons of great experience 
that both the increase of sheep and the growth of the staple 
this year will be materially diminished by it. We know 
that in England the estimated deaths from fluke, or liver 
rot (as the disease is sometimes called), have in one year 
amounted to upwards of 1,000,000 sheep, and I have reason 
to believe that the losses in Victoria during the last two 
years will be very little short of that amount. Anything, 
therefore, which will assist sheep farmers to a knowledge of 
the nature of such a direful plague, or may enable them to 
frustrate its further ravages, cannot but be acceptable to 
them, and prove interesting to the general public, who are 
so directly concerned in the production of cheap and whole¬ 
some animal food.” 
(< We are indebted to Di\ Spencer Cobbold and other distin- 
