ON 'i'HF. LIVE-STOCK

1T0

hypothesis, and there is another circumstance that for thepresent must he held a decisive one against it, namely, thatthese fasciolae are not to be found on the pastures, or any•where but in the sheep themselves.

The first symptoms of rot are lethargy and loss of appetite,which are often the consequence of hunger, fatigue, and coldor wet layers. The belly afterw ards appears shrunk up, andthen they fall to their meat with great voracity. As long astheir bellies continue light, they have not quite fallen a preyto the disorder, and a bite of broom, heath, or sea-marsh,once or twice a day, or salt, may restore them. After this,the belly falls down, and the flanks fall in, which are worsesymptoms, and denote that the disease has made too great aprogress to be radically cured, especially if the sheep are inhigh condition. The rot may be also discovered before ithas proceeded far, by the hand applied to the animal’s backor ribs. If a slight crackling is felt, as if there were smalldry bladders betwixt the skin and flesh, the rot has com-menced ; but if the sheep be firm on the back, and the skinrefuse to slide on the flesh, it is still sound. If the eye isstreaked with red veins, there is no danger; but, on the con-trary, if it is of a yellowish colour, and watery, the sheep iscertainly unsound. A watery swelling below the jaws, thougha concomitant of the rot, is not a certain sign that the ani-mal is lost. Nursing ewes are less liable to the rot thanother sheep.

When a sheep is killed during the early stages of the dis-ease, about the time when the flank falls in, the fasciolae orflukes are only to be found in the ducts of the liver. Theliver itself is much swelled, and the fat that covers the bowelsand kidneys is loose and flabby; one half, or at least onethird of it, will not melt. Ihe fell is so loose, that it will notseparate from the skin, and about the short ribs it is ofa pale colour, bordered with a tinge of yellow, Theirflesh, w'hen cold, does not grow firm, nor when boiled ten-der. The blood is thin, frothy, and light coloured. When