On the rot in sheep / By Edward Harrison.

  • Harrison, Edward, 1759-1838
Date:
1803
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the rot in sheep / By Edward Harrison. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    C 19'] herbage of any kind; besides both the butterwort and the white rot are too pungent and sharp for general pasturage. Accordingly the former, and I believe, the latter, is refused by sheep, cows, horses, goats, and swine. Sheep do not reject all acrid plants. In Italy it is reported, that they feed greedily upon the ranunculus arvensis, and have been poisoned by it. When confined, without other sustenance, they will eat the ranunculus sceleratus and bulbosus. Daubenton kept two sheep eight days -upon this food, and they suf¬ fered no injury from it. This experiment in¬ duces him to conclude, that neither of the latter plants hath any tendency to produce the rot. Had the last season been favourable, I intended to have confined a few sheep of different ages on suspected grounds, and by killing them at re¬ gular periods, I expected to ascertain how far they had suffered from the soil and the herbage; by trials of this kind, with careful dissections, I conceive that much light would be thrown upon the rot, and the other disorders of sheep. It will be stated in the progress of this essay, that sheep have acquired the rot, by remaining only ten minutes on wet lands. In that time they could not have gorged much, even supposing them to be fond of any plants that are admitted to be pernicious, and the disorder has certainly been produced, where none of the suspected ve- B 2
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