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THE VETERINARIAN, FEBRUARY 2, 1880. 
Ne quid falsi dicere audeat, ne quid veri non audeat.—C icebo. 
“ROT” AMONG CATTLE AND SHEEP. 
Generally speaking writers, on the subject of the para¬ 
sitic disease which is commonly known as “ rot,” confine 
their observations to the sheep as the subject of the malady, 
and when reference is made to periods of the extensive 
prevalence of rot it is usually understood that sheep are the 
universal victims. Practically this conclusion is correct, 
sheep suffer from the effects of the introductions of the 
fluke, Distoma hepaticum } into the liver ducts more severely 
and quickly than the larger herbivora do, but veterinary 
pathologists and many practical agriculturists have long been 
familiar with the fact that cattle when feeding in pastures 
which are contaminated with the larvse of the fluke become 
infested with the parasites, which are easily discovered in 
post-mortem examination in the slaughter houses, although 
many of the infested animals may not to appearance suffer 
inconvenience from their presence. 
Flukes, when they infest the livers of cattle, undoubtedly 
cause considerable local irritation, and we have frequently 
observed on inspecting the livers of cattle from various parts 
of the Continent that the bile ducts had undergone excessive 
dilatation, and in many cases induration as a consequence of 
the parasitic invasion, but even in these marked cases the 
carcase of the animal did not present those evidences of 
derangement which are common to sheep under similar 
conditions. “Rot” among cattle has been looked upon as 
a comparatively rare disease in this country. Most feeders 
of stock would, without fear, put bullocks to graze on lands 
which they knew would be fatal to sheep, and this course 
generally would be justified by the event. 
During the past autumn many cases of genuine and fatal rot 
among cattle, especially young stock, have been alarmingly 
