l804' tfi the Bajjifs Pyrenees in France, ij'^^ 



inftance of fuch infccSlion : it is believed, however, in Langue- 

 doc, that it is communicated from ftieep ^o rabbits. I could not 

 learn whether the llieep were ever affected a fecond time with the 

 fame diforder ; but we cannot expecfi: information at Cauterets on 

 tliis part of the fubje<il, hnce the difeafe only appears there for 

 a fingle feafon, after intervals of twelve, fifteen, or twenty years, 

 wliile tlie ilieep live but eight or at mod ten years •, fo that any of 

 them that have once been difeafed cannot be alive when the next 

 period of contagion comes round. 



Whenever the diforder appears in the flock, the infeded ani- 

 mals are feparated from the reft, and fliut up in warm cots, hav- 

 ing plenty of wheat or barley ftraw given them for litter ; they 

 are fed v.ith hay and aftermath which have been made on a dry 

 field, with a little fait, and are allowed lukewarm water for drink. 



In the fiat country at Tarbcs, which is ten leagues diftant from 

 Cauterets, and conhderably warmer than in the Pyrenees, and 

 where this dillemper is much more frequent, a different method 

 of treatment is followed. At the beginning of the difeafe blood 

 is drawn by cutting the ear *, the cots are fumigated, for five or 

 fix fuccefTive days, by burning aromatic and llrong fmelling herbs, 

 preferring the dried ftems of garlic for this purpofe ; thefe are 

 burnt on a large ftone in the middle of the cot, while all the vent 

 holes are carefully ftoppcd, to prevent, as much as pofhble, the 

 fmoke from efcaping. The Ihepherds of Tarbes have great confi- 

 dence in the beneficial eiFccls of fumigating with garlic ftems, 

 which occafions a great difcharge from the noftrils, efpecially in 

 fuch cafes of the difeafe as are complicated with catarrhal difor- 

 ders, and with the itaggers or vertigo. 



At Bellegarde, near Auch, they give to each beaft a double 

 handful of white mulberry leaves, which diey allege is a moft ef- 

 fedlual cure, and ferves excellently for preventing the attacks o£ 

 the difeafe. 



When, at Cauterets, the diforder begins to abate, whatever be 

 the feafon of the year, the animals are dipt, on purpofe to afliil 

 the drying of the puftules, and to favour the growth of a new 

 fleece. After this the fheep fatten very quickly ; and it is worth 

 while to remark, that the fleece, which immediately fucceeds this 

 difeafe, is finer and more filky than any former or future fleece on 

 the fame beaft. 



Formerly this difeafe made great ravages among the fheep at 

 Carcaflbne, till a met'iod was fallen on to inoculate the difeafe- 

 { learnt this fact in 1762 from Dr French, an Irifli phyfician 

 who lived in Languedoc for feveral years, but if was not till 1763 

 that I received pnticular information on this curious fubje6l from 

 >Ir Berria, mayor of Carcalfone, to whom I had written for in- 



voL. V. NO. 18. M formation. 



