The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1880-12-18

NJ, Xundel, says Paris letter III an
eXchage, has scientifically inVestigat-
ed the terrible malady sheep rot, and
by Il series of patient observations has
thrown considerable light on the origin
of the disease, its development and
cOntagiOn. The malady is the result
of an alteration of the b'ood wherein
the watery element predominates. 1t
is the predominance of this water that
has popularity associated sheep rot as
peculiar to wet seasons and marshy
lands, concluding that the water PEN
etrated into the organism by air satu-
rated with vapor, and by forage plants
extremely aqueous, ON which the ami
NAL was condemned to feed. Asso-
ciated with these symptoms, were
worms IN the liver or fiukes, but these
were considered merely as the cOnsc-
uuences of the animals exhausted
system. NJ Zmdels's conclusions are
the opposite of these ideas, For him,
if the sheep becomes diseased, 1t is
owing to the medium in which it lives
being infested with worms its malady
is not derived directly from either the |
air or the food; its liver IN essential |
organ, is affected as such, becomes the |
home of the worm. The rot is due to .
the presence of the worm, lust as the .
scab to the dc0rH-rosults the same
exhaustion of the system by the inva-
sion and the destruction of the organs. /
There are two varieties of worms, of
which the smaller penetrates deeper
into the hepatic duct, and produces
more profound injury. The action Of
the parasites is slow, and may be di-
Vided into three stages-the first coin
cdcs with the months Of August,
September and October, when the am
imalcuIc, in its most rudmentary
stage enters the system by the forage
and the intestine canal, and arrives at
its natural hOmc-the liver
Second, the worms form groups OBJ
structing the ducts by irritating their
mucous membrane, and so narrowing
their volume. 1t is ut this period that
the animal commences to exhibit signs
Of exhaustion and where the tissues
lose their color. The third period re-
presents the decay or "rOtn of the
liver and is effected gradually in the ,
months of january, February and !
March. The worms have now arrived
at their full deVOpment and fill the
liver ducts, while distending them. 1t {
is at this moment they quit the liver
for the intCStneS, where they are
digtsted. But they have anticipated
file preservation of their species since
March and the following months by |
number Of eggs, which, absorbed 10y t
the bile, are expelled with the eXcre- G
ments, and where they can be detected '
by the microscope, as many as 5000 7
being found in Il found of the dejec t
tons, and fifty in Il single drop of bile. t
The eggs remain in the larvae stage !
pending two to four months, when !
they become transformed into an ami /
very aquatic and very active, v
into the intestines of the q
sheep, either by means Of the water 4
drunk, or attached to snails and in Il
3ects that cling to the grass The rot I
IS contagious but no marshy land can I
produce the disease unless the water /
n pasture be previously infested with o
The parasite. 1t is only in autumn $
hat the infection can take place, as by L
hen the eggs elected in the eXcre- Y
ments are Matched. Avoid, then, the Q
pasture lands where the worm must a
-Xist from being the feeding ground of C
diseased stock. The winter exposure r
Kills the worms. New mOWn hay is 4
not, as some allege an irratant of the t
digestive organs where it produces t
is simply the consequence Of +
blowing animals to eat too much Of 5
he odoritcrous, appetiZing forage, and b
not drinking sufficiently brings ON in t,
digestion. c