40 THE HISTORY, ^MTUKE, SYMPTOMS, AND 



chalk mixture ; dysentery by opium and chalk. Care should 

 be taken to sponge the lips, nostrils, and eyes with a weak 

 solution of vinegar and water, after having removed the muco- 

 purulent discharge. But whilst we have given a few excellent 

 remedial medicinal agents they by no means cut short the disease. 

 We incline more to the plain simple method of fresh air, good 

 nourishment, punctual and careful attendance, and cleanliness. 

 To apply curative treatment to the cutaneous eruption would 

 not only be futile but positively injurious, except in those cases 

 that had recovered from the very worst form, when a little oxide 

 of zinc ointment and carbolic acid applied to the abrasions on 

 the skin would soothe and heal. 



Preventive Treatment. 



Prevention is a more important branch of veterinary science 

 in regard to this malady than the curative, as very little reliance 

 can be placed on the medical preservative treatment. Past 

 experience of therapeutic measures in respect of contagious and 

 zymotic diseases, such as the one under consideration, give us 

 little encouragement to hope that medicines will be discovered 

 to hinder the development of the disease, or assist in the removal 

 of the abnormal and septic agent silently but seriously at work. 

 If science, then, has not yet discovered remedial medicinal 

 agents to combat and conquer the contagious element, all that 

 can be done is to watch the progress of the disease, and to 

 administer only such regulating medicines as will prevent and 

 allay any aggravation. It is a fact, proved beyond a doubt, 

 that Variola Ovina is introduced into this country by importa- 

 tion. The risk is greatly obviated by the system of inspection 

 at the ports of debarkation ; and with the powers given by Act 

 of Parliament and Orders in Council to a port or government 

 inspector, it should be next to impossible for Variola Ovina to 

 get introduced into this country, so long as the law as it now 

 stands is carried out both in spirit and letter. If only the same 

 system of inspection were carried out at the ports of embarka- 

 tion, the agriculturists of this country might then enjoy much 

 greater liberty in the transit of stock, and with an absolute 

 absence of risk of introducing amongst their stocks of cattle and 

 sheep any of the exotic contagious diseases. 



Prevention will in almost every instance of Variola Ovina be 

 found most profitable and satisfactory. Assuming an invasion 

 should take place, the first and most important act, which is 

 now compulsory, should be to separate at once the diseased 

 from the apparently healthy. The healthy should be frequently 

 and carefully examined, each sheep being scrutinised separately, 

 and the moment that one is suspected remove it to a place by 



