394 
ROT 
ROT 
N 
it is observed, that graziers and butchers having remarked 
that sheep are much disposed to feed during the first three 
or four weeks after being tainted, avail themselves of this cir¬ 
cumstance very commonly to increase their profits. When 
the first stage is over, flukes begin to appear in the pori 
biliarii, the ductus communis choledocus, and in the gall¬ 
bladder. At first the number of these creatures is small; but 
as the disease advances they increase, and before death, are 
often very numerous. In the last part of the complaint, 
they are sometimes to be found in the stomach as well as in 
the intestines and liver. This, like the visceral disorders of 
the human body, may terminate in effusion or suppuration, 
or scliirrus. Thus, when sheep die suddenly in the first 
stage of the disorder, an effusion of serum, or of wheyish- 
coloured fluid, may be commonly discovered in the cavity 
of the abdomen, and then the peritoneum surrounding the 
liver is generally covered with a membrane or coat of coagu- 
lable lymph. 
Abscesses in the liver exhibit another termination of this 
malady. They are seldom considerable enough to kill im¬ 
mediately ; but, in consequence of the absorption of purulent 
matter from them, the sheep frequently waste away, and die 
hectical or dropsical. When the collections are small, sheep 
will recover sufficiently to bear lambs, for three or four sea¬ 
sons, and afterwards become tolerable mutton. But the 
most common termination is in schirri, or what the shepherds 
call knots in the liver. The whole substance of this impor¬ 
tant viscus has been found so full of small roundish lumps, 
or schirrous bodies, that it was difficult to find any sound 
part in it. The first attack is unfortunately so very insidious, 
that the disorder is scarcely observable before the animal 
begins to waste and lose flesh. In this advanced state it is 
said to labour under the rot or pourriture, from overlooking 
the commencement of the disorder. And hydatids are ob¬ 
served to effect schirrous and purulent livers more frequently 
than others. When livers are much diseased, the butcher 
carefully conceals them from the public eye. To him it is 
always a matter of surprise to find the mutton saleable in 
these severe cases. It shews, in an extraordinary manner, 
the accommodating power of living matter, which is able to 
maintain life, and increase corpulence, under such unfavour¬ 
able circumstances. Shepherds and breeders, who make it 
a general rule to kill every sheep that becomes indisposed, 
from an opinion that very few of them ever recover from any 
illness, would do well to examine the livers and other viscera 
of slaughtered sheep. By such a practice they would soon 
be convinced that sheep are able to endure a great deal. 
In respect to the cause of the disease, it seems to be occa¬ 
sioned by poisonous effluvia, which, under certain circum¬ 
stances, are emitted from marshy soils, and that the only 
dependence in the cure of this affection is to be placed upon 
the removal of sheep into dry situations, keeping them warm 
and sheltered, and giving them dry food in the yard. 
We have already in the article Ovis, before referred to, 
spoken of the use of salt, and we may add, that turpentine, 
in doses o£a table spoonful every third night has also been 
much extolled, but we have no faith in airy thing, without 
the removal of the cause. See Ovis, p. 99. 
ROT, in Timber. See Dry Rot and Timber. 
ROTA, s. A particular court of papal jurisdiction, con¬ 
sisting of twelve doctors.—Staphileus, dean of the rota, was 
there. Burnet .—A club of politicians, who, when the 
government of this country so often wavered in 1659, were 
for contriving an equal government by rotation. 
Sidrophei, as full of tricks 
As rota men of politicks, 
Straight cast about to over-reach 
The unwary conqueror with a fetch. Hudibras. 
ROTA, a town in the south-west of Spain, in Andalusia, 
situated on the Atlantic, on the north side of Cadiz bay. It 
contains 6000 inhabitants, and has a castle and a monastery, 
but is most remarkable for the wine which is produced on 
the hills around the town. This wine, called in England 
tent, is thick, heating, and aromatic, and is considered as 
one of the best kinds produced in the peninsula. This town 
suffered, like Cadiz, by the prevalence of a malignant fever, 
in 1800 and 1819; 7 miles north-north-west of Cadiz. 
ROTA, a village in the south part of the kingdom of Na¬ 
ples, in Calabria Citra, district of Bisignano, with 800 inha¬ 
bitants. 
ROTACE2E, in Botany, the 20th natural order among 
the fragmenta of Linnaeus, named from rota, a wheel, in 
allusion to the form of the corolla, which is wheel-shaped, 
rotata. The genera stand thus: trientalis, centunculus, 
anagallis, lysimachia, phlox, exacum, chlora, gentiana, 
swertia, chironia, and sarothra. To which are subjoined, in 
a separate section, ascyrum, hypericum, and cistus. 
ROTAH, or Rattah, a pass in the mountain of Bahar, 
province of Mougier. It formerly possessed a fort, which 
commanded the road. Lat. 24. 55. N. long. 87. 7. E. 
ROTAI, or Rotte, a small island in the Eastern seas. 
A Dutch factor resides here to trade with the natives. The 
chief article is sugar; 27 miles south-west of Timor. 
ROTALA, in Botany, a genus of the class triandria, order 
monogynia, natural order of caryophyllece.—Generic Cha¬ 
racter. Calyx: perianth one-leaved, tubular, membrana¬ 
ceous, three-toothed, permanent. Corolla none. Stamina: 
filaments three, capillary, the length of the calyx; anthers 
roundish. Pistil: germ superior, ovate; style filiform ; stig¬ 
ma trifid. Pericarp: capsule ovate, subtrigonal, inclosed 
within the calyx, three-celled, three-valved; seeds very many, 
roundish. — Essential Character. Calyx three-toothed. 
Corolla none. Capsule three-celled, many seeded. 
Rotala verticillaris.—This is an annual plant, with a sim¬ 
ple creeping root. Stem ascending, a palm high, round, 
jointed, even. Branches quite simple, stiff; the lower 
opposite, the upper alternate, fewer; the joints below round, 
above somewhat four-cornered. Leaves in fours, sometimes 
on the branches from five to eight, sessile, linear, sharpish, 
even, somewhat keeled, spreading. Flowers in fours, one 
from each axil of the leaves, sessile, small. Calyx covering 
the whole capsule, very finely membranaceous. Fruit the 
size of mustard seed. Whorls remote.—Native of the East 
Indies. 
RO'TARY, adj. \ro/a, Lat.] Whirling as a wheel. 
ROTAS. See Rhotas. 
ROTATED, aclj. [rotatus, Lat.] Whirled round. 
ROTATION, s. [rotatio, Lat.] The act of whirling 
round like a wheel; the state of being so whirled round ; 
whirl.—Of this kind in some disposition of bodies to rota¬ 
tion from east to west; as the main float and refloat of the 
sea, by consent of the universe asa part of thediurnal motion. 
Bacon. —Vicissitude of succession.—This is all the possible 
rotation our speculative state-botcher can in reason promise 
to himself. Butler. 
For the laws of rotation, see Mechanics, p. 623. 
ROTATOR, s. [Lat.] That which gives a circular 
motion.—This articulation is strengthened by strong muscles, 
on the inside by the triceps and the four little rotators. 
Wiseman. 
ROTATORY, adj. [rotatus, Lat.] Whirling; running- 
round with celerity. Dr. Johnson thus defines the second 
sense of giddy, with rotatory prefixed.—The ball and socket 
joint allows a rotatory or sweeping motion. Pale?/. 
ROTAU, Upper and Lower, two large villages of the 
north-west of Bohemia, near the town of Heinrichsgrun. 
They contain a number of iron mines and forges. 
ROTCHET, an English name for the fish called by 
authors cuculus, and more frequently by us the red gur¬ 
nard. See Trigla Cuculus. 
ROTE, s. [Rote, old Fr. from the Lat. rota, a wheel.] 
What we call the hurdy-gurdy; a musical instrument, fre¬ 
quently mentioned in the French Fabliaux, and supposed to 
mean the valle, an instrument played with a wheel, instead 
of a bow.—Wei, couthe he sing, and playen on a rote. 
Chaucer. 
There did he find, in her delicious bower, 
The faire Paeana playing on a rote. 
Spenser. 
[Rotine, 
