3^0 On the AmeTtorathn of Sheepy 



I 



XIII. 



Plan of Experiments which were made in the Garden of Plants upon Sheep, and ether 

 Domefiic Animals. By Daubeuton *. , 



F all the experiments of Which I prefent the plan were but a projefl', I fliould be cau- 

 tious of fpeaking of it to the Inftitute, becaufe a fimple projc£l would not be worthy of their 

 attention : but it is now a confiderable time fince I have been employed in thefe experiments. 

 1 have already made a great number, many of which have aiForded refults fufficiently intereft- 

 jng to be publiflied. I purpofe to communicate thefe to the Inftitute; and have therefore 

 bought it neceffary to defcribe the methods I have followed, in order that they may be en- 

 abled to judge what degree of confidence they deferve. 



In the meeting of the 24th Thermidor, in the year iii. of the French republic, the pro- 

 feflbrs and adminiftrators of the National Mufeum of natural hiftory gave to my dif- 

 pofal, for the purpofe of making experiments on fheep, a piece of ground and building, 

 which were purchafed of Cit. Leger, and forms a court-yard. I have altered and appro- 

 priated it to flieep, and other domeftic animals, upon which I had before made fome trials, 

 which afforded experimental fa£i:s always to be depended on, and often ufeful to the advance- 

 ment of our knowledge. My age and infirmities having prevented me, for many years, 

 from going to Montbard, I had fufpended this work ; but the facilities with which my bre-i 

 thren have procured me at the mufeum have engaged me to refume and continue it. 



During the fpace of eight-and-twenty years, which I have employed in the improvement 

 of flieep, I have alv^ays feen with regret that cultivators have never employed thofe remedies 

 which have been fuggefted for the treatment of this animal during illnefs, becaufe they have 

 been thought too expenfive. In fa6l, they cannot be expesSled to expend as much in curing 

 a difeafed flieep as it would be worth if in health : their treatment muft, therefore, neceffarily 

 cofl: much lefs ; for it is not polTible to cure every diforder. I have, however, difcovered a 

 method of curing the moft common difeafes of flieep, at a much lefs expence. I have been 

 obliged to fufpend thefe refearches ; but the advantages which I have fince found in the mu- 

 feum, has enabled me once more to refume this work, which is now nearly terminated. 



It has been affirmed that the' goat willingly cohabits with the ewe ; and the ram with the 

 (he-goat : but a (he-goat has been in my ftieep-fold, near Montbard, during a number of 

 years, with a flock of rams, without ever having yet produced young. If the goat and the 

 ram were of the fame fpecies — if they were to couple and prove fruitful, what varieties we 

 fliould fee in the productions of this fpecies ! fome would be found with horns refcmbling 

 both to the goat and the ram, or they would be covered with goats'-hair and wool. But 

 the diftindtive charafters of thefe two animals have never been confidered as equivocal 

 by any one ; on the contrary, fo many perfons have affirmed that they breed together, 

 and this opinion is now become fo general, that it is of fome intereft to natural hif- 



• Memoir* of the National Inftitute of France, I. 377. 



tory 



